


Like Candy In My Veins

by littlelouishiccups



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: (kind of), Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Masturbation, Mating Cycles/In Heat, a/b/o dynamics, also known as the time i tried to fit every cliche fic trope into one, also rut and all that good stuff, harry is a baker who likes puns, let's see what else, liam and niall are low-key meddlers, louis is a drama teacher who also owns a record store
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2017-02-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 06:05:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 31,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8478169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlelouishiccups/pseuds/littlelouishiccups
Summary: “Um…” Harry said slowly after a moment. “Okay. That’s… this is… Let me get this straight.” He lifted up a hand and swallowed. “You told your family that you have a boyfriend… and my name was the first one you thought of?”
  “Harry Potter was on TV, alright? It wasn’t that much of a stretch.” Louis pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t believe he was explaining himself to Harry fucking Styles. He couldn’t believe he was stooping this low. “Forget it. I’m sorry I even thought about bringing you into this.”   Harry snorted. “What? Did you want me to pretend to be your boyfriend or something?” (Basically the A/B/O, enemies to lovers, fake relationship, Christmas AU that nobody asked for.)





	1. Chapter 1

Louis was grading final papers at 10:00 on the last Friday night of the semester, when he got the text that could potentially ruin his entire Christmas. 

Correction. Louis was grading final papers at 10:00 on the last Friday night of the semester, when he got the text that could potentially ruin his entire _life_. 

He glanced up to look at where his phone lay on the coffee table, saw that the text was from Lottie, and decided it could wait a few minutes. He finished grading the atrocity of a paper in his hands, writing a big red ‘62’ at the top with a sigh, before reaching out to grab his phone.

_ Just heard from mom. She’ll probably call you soon. Change of Christmas plans! One of the dance teams for that Christmas morning parade in NYC backed out last minute. The twins team is going in their place. Mom and Dan are taking Ernie and Doris with them so looks like it’ll just be you me and Fizzy this year. _

That wouldn’t be too bad. Louis would have liked to see his whole family, but he’d have fun hanging with Lottie and Fizzy too. They were finally at the age where the three of them could go out and have some real fun. 

Two additional texts came in as he read the first one.

_ Talking to Fizzy now. We’re coming to you! Call you tomorrow to plan. _

_ Can’t wait to meet Harry ;) _

Louis swallowed and read over the last text again before tossing his phone away from him, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Fuck,” he muttered to himself, running his hands over his face. Fuck fuck fuck. He was fucked.

His phone lit up once more from it’s new place on the floor. This time it was his mother calling, so he bent over to retrieve it with a sigh. 

“Hello?” He answered, and half listened to his mom as she filled him in on the new Christmas plans with more detail, making non-committal humming sounds while internally freaking out over the fact that his sisters wanted to meet his boyfriend. His fake boyfriend. Who he’d been lying to his family about for months. 

He was so,  _ so  _ fucked. 

\-----

_ It probably wasn’t the best idea Louis ever had, but he was getting desperate. His family was driving him nuts, and when Lottie brought up the fact that he was single for the seventeen hundredth time when he was home for her birthday in August, he finally cracked.   _

_ “Listen Lou,” Lottie said. It was after midnight and they’d both snuck downstairs for leftover cake after everyone else had gone to bed. “I know you’ve said you want us to lay off on the boyfriend thing, but Em knows this really great Alpha who-” _

_ “No,” Louis said, immediately cutting her off as soon as he could tell where this conversation was going.  _

_ He refused to let his family set him up on any more dates. The last guy they set him up with turned out to be straight. Louis still isn’t sure how that even happened, but his mom swears she thought the guy was ‘at least bisexual’.  _

_ Getting no homo’d at the end of the night when Louis leaned in for a kiss was one of the most embarrassing experiences of his life. After that, he vowed that his family would never be allowed to set him up with anyone ever again.  _

_ “Louis,” Lottie whined, licking icing off of her fingers. “C’mon, we’re just looking out for you. You haven’t dated anyone since college. Mom’s really worried that you’ll never end up mating.” _

_ Louis rolled his eyes. He wasn’t the fucking 40 year old virgin for Christ’s sake. He was only twenty-eight, and he did just fine for himself. He’d just started a new job and recently moved to a new town. Mating was the last thing on his mind. _

_ He knew his family though, and they wouldn’t be satisfied until he was in a happy, committed relationship with someone, ready to settle down with a mate, a handful of babies, and a white picket fence. _

_ “Actually,” he said to Lottie, a light bulb going off in his head. “You don’t have to worry, Lotts. I’ve uh- I’ve kind of recently started seeing someone. An Alpha.” _

_ Lottie narrowed her eyes. Louis could practically feel her skepticism. “You have, have you?” _

_ Louis nodded, quite pleased with himself for coming up with this one. It’s not like his family would ever have to know either way, and this would get them off his back throughout the upcoming holidays. And then all could be forgotten as soon as the new year started. Flawless. Foolproof. He was a genius. _

_ “What’s his name?” Lottie asked, tilting her head to the side with a smirk. She clearly didn’t believe him in the slightest. Well, Louis wasn’t bothered. His acting skills could always use some brushing up. _

_ “Um,” he hesitated, eyes darting to the TV, where ABC Family or Freezone or whatever the hell they were calling it now, was doing another one of their Harry Potter weekend specials. “Harry.” _

_ “Harry,” Lottie snorted, seemingly following his thought process. “The savior of the wizarding world is your boyfriend.” _

_ Louis scoffed, brain working fast. “Not Harry Potter. His uh… his last name is… Styles.” _

_ Hey, if he was going to have a fake boyfriend it might as well be someone he knew. He wouldn’t have to keep making stuff up.  _

_ Well, he’d still be making stuff up, but at least he could base his fake boyfriend off of an actual person. That was sure to be easier, right? It made perfect sense in his mind. _

_ “Harry Styles,” Lottie said, still sounding unconvinced. “...Is that just the name of some porn star you like?” _

_ “No,” Louis said, crossing his arms over his chest. He was annoyed now. Why was it so hard for his family to believe that he could actually be dating someone? Honestly, fuck them for thinking he would be eternally single and couldn’t find a date himself. Just because he hadn’t dated anyone since college… that didn’t mean anything. _

_ “It’s the name of the guy I’ve been seeing. And he’s not a pornstar or a wizard. He’s a baker.” _

_ It probably should have concerned him how easily he was lying to his sister, and Lottie still seemed suspicious, but she didn’t press the issue any longer. Instead, she started asking questions about him, and Louis found himself weaving this story about himself and Harry Styles.  _

_ He was a damn good actor, if he did say so himself. His theatre kids didn’t know how lucky they were to have him as a teacher.  _

_ Lottie couldn’t even tell from his stories that Louis and Harry actually hated each other. _

_ \----- _

_ It all started with a parking space.  _

_ No. Actually, it all started with Harry Styles being an entitled, self-centered Alpha prick. But for all intents and purposes, it started with a parking space.  _

_ Louis was new in town, having just taken a job at the local high school as the new theatre arts teacher, as well as opening his own record store in the town square. He was on top of the world. Louis had dreamt of owning his own record store since he was a teenager, and he loved mentoring kids. He couldn’t believe he was getting to do both things at once.  _

_ It was early July and Louis had been in town for a little over two weeks. His time was split between going to teacher orientation at the high school and setting up the store with Ashton, the beta he’d hired on a whim after Ashton struck up a conversation with him when they ran into each other on the street in front of the store. _

_ The store’s grand opening was next week. Louis and Ashton were taking inventory of a new shipment of CD’s when the front door opened and the overwhelmingly beautiful scent of an Alpha infiltrated the entire place. Louis almost whined. The scent was fresh and earthy, like the smell after a rainstorm and freshly cut grass, but with that underlying warm musky smell that belonged to all Alphas. And maybe a hint of freshly baked bread. He hadn’t been hit with an Alpha’s scent that smelled that good in a long time. _

_ He looked up from his checklist, and when he saw who the scent belonged to, he almost whined again. The guy was gorgeous, with these stupidly long and toned legs, trapped in the tightest pair of black ripped jeans possible, and broad shoulders. He was wearing an old, ratty Rolling Stones shirt with a pair of sunglasses hanging from the neck. Another pair of sunglasses sat perched on the top of his head, where his brown hair was cut short on the sides but slightly longer and floppier on top.  _

_ “Sorry, man,” Louis said after making a mental note to compose himself and not run across the room and jump the guy. “We don’t open for a few more days.” _

_ The Alpha swept his gaze up Louis’ body before meeting his eyes and smiling. Louis had the feeling this guy could get just about anything he wanted with a smile. _

_ “Oh, I know,” he said, voice deep and rough. Louis’ stomach did a backwards flip. “I just stopped by to talk to you about where you’ve been parking.” _

_ Louis lifted an eyebrow in question, willing him to continue.  _

_ “My name’s Harry, by the way. I own the bakery next door,” he explained, stopping a few feet away from Louis.  _

_ Harry was the only person who worked on their side of the square whom Louis had not yet met. He’d met Harry’s employees, but had been told that the big boss was on vacation with his family when he inquired. Louis had definitely not been expecting this guy when he pictured the mysterious bakery owner, but he tried to hide his surprise.   _

_ “Nice to meet you,” he said, although he wasn’t so sure it was nice to meet him, if Harry was already going to pester Louis about parking. “I’m Louis.” _

_ “Hey Harry!” Ashton said, poking his head out from behind one of the piles of boxes. They clearly already knew each other and Louis wondered when he’d finally get used to the close community of the small town. _

_ “Hey Ashton,” Harry acknowledged him before turning back to Louis. “I just came in here to introduce myself and ask you to move your car.” _

_ Louis lifted his other eyebrow. “And I need to move my car, because…” _

_ “Because you’re in my spot,” Harry said simply, a pleasant look on his face. He clearly expected Louis to jump at the chance to move his car for him. _

_ “I didn’t think the spots in the back were reserved.” Louis said instead, already starting to get annoyed. He hated Alphas who thought they owned everything, that acted like they were God’s gift to the world and expected everyone to submit and bow to their every whim. It was twenty first century, for crying out loud. That kind of behavior was archaic and boring. _

_ “They aren’t technically reserved,” Harry cocked his hip in a flirty way, and Louis decided right then and there that he was  _ not _ going to move his fucking car. Just because he was an Alpha didn’t mean this guy could waltz in here, turn the charm on little omega Louis, and get him to do whatever he wanted.  _

_ “But I park there every day,” Harry continued. “I’ve always parked there. It’s the closest non handicap space to the bakery back door and I’m always bringing ingredients and equipment in and out.” _

_ “It’s the closest space to my back door too,” Louis crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I don’t understand why you should get dibs. I’ve been parking there every day for the past two weeks.” _

_ Harry huffed. “I’ve been on vacation so it’s been free, but I always park there.” _

_ “Well I park there now,” Louis shrugged and turned his attention back to his checklist. He was done with this conversation.  _

_ Ashton, who’d watched this entire exchange, muttered something under his breath that sounded a lot like ‘shut the fuck down’. Louis glared at him and Ashton turned back to his work with an amused smile on his face. _

_ “You’re really not going to move your car,” Harry said, more a statement than a question, but he still managed to sound incredulous. _

_ “First come first serve,” Louis shrugged, looking up to meet Harry’s intense, green eyes again. “Finders keepers and all that.” _

_ “Oh, my God,” Harry said, but then he threw his arms up in exasperation, turned around and left. Louis watched him go, admiring his ass and the sway of his hips, before remembering he hated this guy now and scowling.  _

_ “That was brutal,” Ashton said as soon as the door closed behind Harry. _

_ Louis smirked. “He hit a nerve.” _

\-----

“I’m dead,” Louis announced, dramatically collapsing onto a bar stool in front of Niall on Saturday night.

He’d woken up in a good mood after sleeping in late that morning, until he remembered his conversation with Lottie the night before, and then his mood plummeted right into the floor. Lottie and Fizzy called him around lunchtime to discuss Christmas, and he lied through his teeth, saying he couldn’t wait for them to meet Harry and that he was more than happy to host the festivities this year.

After they hung up, he worked himself into a panic for the remainder of the afternoon and evening until it was late enough for him to meet Liam for a drink at Niall’s pub. On the short walk from his apartment complex to the bar a few blocks down, Louis formulated a plan. He needed an Alpha to pretend to be his boyfriend. Liam was an Alpha. Liam could be his Alpha boyfriend. 

Liam was already at the pub when Louis arrived, sitting in their usual spot and chatting with Niall from across the bar, and he startled when Louis flailed into the seat next to him.

“You look alive to me, mate,” Niall said, grabbing a glass from beneath the bar and turning to the tap to fill it.

“I’m  _ going _ to die,” Louis amended. He didn’t have time for technicalities.  

Niall and Liam ignored him, continuing their previous conversation as Niall placed a stout in front of Louis.

Louis only half listened as they discussed the pros and cons of electing Chrissy Teigen as the next president, before he got impatient with his so called friends’ lack of concern for his impending death.

“Does nobody care that I’m dying?” he asked loudly. 

Liam rolled his eyes, but obliged him. “Why are you dying, Louis?” He asked the question slowly, in the kind of tone one would use to talk to a very small child. 

“I don’t appreciate your tone, Liam,” Louis said, and turned to Niall instead. “Ask me why I’m dying.”

Niall just looked at him, and Louis figured that was as good as he was going to get. 

“I need Liam to be my pretend boyfriend for Christmas,” Louis announced, slapping his hands down on the surface of the bar.

“Uh,” Liam nearly choked on the pretzel he’d just popped into his mouth. “No?”

“Liam, it’s an emergency life or death situation.”

Niall rubbed his temples. “I don’t understand this conversation.” 

Louis sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, and then decided to just go for it and told them an abridged version everything. “Okay. Long story short, I’m sick of my family pitying me and always trying to set me up on dates, so I told them I have a boyfriend. Well, actually I told them that Harry is my boyfriend, but they don’t know what he looks like, so when they come up here for Christmas I’m gonna need Liam to pretend to be Harry.”

Liam and Niall blinked at him, both looking reasonably confused. 

“Wait,” Niall said after a moment. “I thought you hated Harry,” 

“I do hate Harry,” Louis agreed, always pleased that his hatred for Harry was common knowledge. 

Liam squinted his eyes. “Yeah... Why is it that you hate Harry again? I always forget the reason.”

Louis huffed. They’d been through this, but it didn’t help Louis’ case that his hatred of Harry was based purely off of a bad first impression and the unwillingness to give him a second chance. Plus, literally every other person on the planet loved Harry. Which was also reason enough to hate Harry, in Louis’ opinion.

“Because he’s the definition of an offensive, self-centered Alpha who has no regard for how his actions affect other people. And he’s too…  _ quirky. _ And like, obnoxiously hipster.”

Niall just looked at him. “You literally own a record store. Also, Harry’s not like that at all. It’s like I’ve told you before- I think you just keep catching him on bad days.”

“Owning a record store does not make one hipster,” Louis scoffed, waving his hand in a dismissal of the following comment. “Anyway, that’s not important. Liam, will you be my boyfriend or not?”

“Sorry bro,” Liam made an apologetic face. “I have plans with Zayn for the holidays.”

Oh, right. Zayn. 

Louis always forgot about Zayn, even though he was the reason Liam refused to sleep with Louis when they first met, despite Louis’ best efforts to the contrary. Zayn was Liam’s boyfriend who went to grad school out of town and Louis wasn’t entirely sure even actually existed. He’d never met the guy, and now that Louis knew how this fake boyfriend thing worked, he was starting to believe in Zayn’s existence less and less. 

“Why don’t you ask  _ me  _ to be your pretend boyfriend?” Niall said, sounding offended, and Louis couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.

“You’re not an Alpha. And besides, my sisters would never believe that,” Louis said apologetically. Niall would probably end up hitting on Lottie and Fizzy and would completely blow Louis’ cover. He was far too straight. Although, he did have that weird obsession with that one golfer...

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Niall asked, slamming his fist down on the bar indignantly. 

Louis ignored him and reached over to clutch Liam’s arm. “I’m so screwed, Liam. Tell me what to do. Christmas is in  _ eight days. _ ” His sisters would arrive in six. 

“Uh, tell the truth?” Liam said, as if this was obvious. “You shouldn’t be lying to your family.”

Louis was about to retort that Liam didn’t know his family, and he’d probably lie to them too if he did know them, when Niall cut in.

“Or,” Niall said, leaning forward like he was about to tell a really big secret. “You could just ask the actual Harry to pretend to be your boyfriend. I know he’s staying here for Christmas. Told me last week that it’s too busy at the bakery around this time of year for him to leave.”

Louis blinked at him. “That is a fucking terrible idea, Niall,” 

Niall sputtered. “Well, it’s better than your idea! Have Liam pretend to be Harry? Yep, totally foolproof, Tommo!” 

Louis was offended. Liam could totally pretend to be Harry. He was a good liar, but he looked so innocent all the time that nobody would ever guess he was anything but 100% honest with pure intentions.  

“Okay,” Louis pressed on. “But as if I’d ever be able to convince Harry to pretend to be my boyfriend. No sane person would ever do that, and especially not Harry. He doesn’t even like me.”

Liam and Niall exchanged a look across the bar and Louis raised his eyebrows at their unspoken communication. They were always making faces at each other when Louis brought up Harry, for God knows what reason. 

“It wouldn’t hurt to ask,” Niall finally said after he and Liam stopped talking with their eyes. 

Louis wanted to argue, because it  _ absolutely could _ hurt to ask, but he decided to just leave it for now. Niall and Liam knew Harry better than he did. Maybe Harry pretended to be people's’ boyfriends all the time. Louis wouldn’t know. He tried his best not to know anything about Harry, which was easier said than done since he had a knack for showing up in Louis’ life at every possible turn.

\-----

_ On the evening after what Louis dubbed The Parking Space Incident, he learned that not only was Harry his work neighbor, but he was his apartment neighbor as well.  _

_ Louis hadn’t been in town long enough to have met all of his neighbors yet, but he knew a nice beta couple lived across from him, and an elderly man with a handful of small dogs lived next door. The complex was pretty quiet, and Louis was pleased with his lease so far. At least until he came home late that evening to a massive leak in the ceiling of his bathroom. _

_ There was still unpacking to be done, boxes were scattered everywhere in places they didn’t belong, and the leak was conveniently right above a box of books Louis would need for school. They were sure to be water damaged. Louis huffed in annoyance, but hoped everything was okay upstairs.  _

_ Concerned for the tenant above him, he left his apartment and headed up the stairs to knock on the door to the apartment above him to see if everything was alright. His mouth dropped open slightly when Harry answered the door.  _

_ “Louis from the record store!” Harry exclaimed in surprise, looking confused but not necessarily displeased to see him. “What’s up?” He leaned on the side of the doorframe and crossed his arms over his chest. Everything about him screamed of easy confidence.  _

_ “Uh,” Louis blinked dumbly. Again, he was hit with the overwhelming desire to bury his face in Harry’s neck and had to suppress a whine. Harry had a nice neck. Louis could see one of his veins when Harry turned his head just the right way. He wanted to kiss it, run his tongue and nose over the skin until he found the pulse point.  _

_ Jesus, he needed to get a grip. How could someone’s mere presence be that intoxicating? Louis blamed it on his stupid omega hormones and his upcoming heat. He was always more sensitive to Alphas in the weeks leading up to a heat. That had to be it.  _

_ “Sorry,” Louis croaked. “I just moved in below you. My ceiling was leaking, so I wanted to make sure everything was okay up here.” _

_ “Shit,” Harry’s eyes widened and he groaned, glancing behind him into the apartment before looking back to Louis. “I didn’t think it was that bad.” _

_ “Didn’t think what was that bad?” _

_ “I started running a bath and forgot about it,” Harry explained, laughing at himself like that wasn’t a totally careless and stupid thing to do. “Completely flooded my bathroom. I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize it had leaked through.” _

_ “And you didn’t think to check?” Louis asked incredulously. _

_ Harry shrugged. “Nobody’s ever lived below me before.” _

_ “Yeah...” Louis said, starting to notice a trend in Harry’s actions. “Just like nobody’s ever parked in your space before.” _

_ “Exactly!” Harry said. And then he winked, like they already some kind of irritating inside joke. Louis was half turned on and half pissed off.   _

_ “You’re going to call maintenance on this one,” Louis spat, poking his finger at Harry’s chest. “Since this is your fault. And then you’re going to stop inconveniencing me with your self-absorbed nonsense!” _

_ Harry bit his lip and looked about two seconds away from laughing. Louis almost wished he would so he could slap the look off of Harry’s frustratingly pretty face, but instead Harry raised his hands in surrender. _

_ “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ll call maintenance.”  _

_ “Good,” Louis said, and then he spun around and went back downstairs to his apartment.   _

 

_ The night that Louis finally decided once and for all that he hated Harry Styles, was also the night he met Liam and Niall. It was a few weeks later, the night before Louis planned to go back home and surprise Lottie for her birthday. Louis was getting ready for the upcoming semester- putting the finishing touches on his lesson plans for the weeks ahead, and Harry was having a party. A fucking loud party. And Louis couldn’t concentrate.  _

_ Eventually he gave up on his work and decided to go outside for a smoke. He went to grab the pack from his bedside table, but forgot it was empty, so with a sigh he grabbed his car keys and left to see if he had an extra pack in his glove compartment.  He left his apartment, glaring at the stairs up towards Harry’s, and walked down to his car.  _

_ Sure enough, he found a pack hidden underneath his umbrella and car insurance. He retrieved the pack of cigarettes from his glove compartment and lit up, leaning against the side of his car as he inhaled and blew out the smoke. _

_ “Can I bum one?”  _

_ Louis turned to the side and ran his eyes up and down the approaching Alpha’s body, appreciating the broad shoulders and muscular arms that were shown off by a sleeveless tank and the dusting of scruff on his kind looking face. Louis discreetly sniffed the air, and appreciated the Alpha’s warm and inviting smell too- not as lovely as Harry’s- but still pleasant, with undertones of sandalwood and citrus.  _

_ “Sure,” Louis held the pack out to him and clicked the lighter when the guy leaned into it. _

_ “I’m Liam,” The Alpha introduced himself, tilting his head up and exhaling a stream of smoke.  _

_ “Louis,” Louis held out his hand for Liam to shake. “You live in the building?” _

_ Liam shook his head. “Nope. Here for a friend’s party. Stepped out for a smoke and realized I was out of cigarettes, so thanks.” He wiggled the gifted cigarette between his fingers. “I needed it.” _

_ “You’re friends with Harry?” Louis asked, already judging this guy for his life choices.  _

_ Liam chuckled. “Everyone’s friends with Harry. You know him? Surprised I haven’t met you before.” _

_ Louis shook his head. “Just moved here a couple of months ago. We aren’t friends. Just neighbors. I live below him.” _

_ “Oh,” Liam said, eyes lighting up. “You’re  _ Louis! _ ” _

_ Louis didn’t know what that was supposed to mean, but he didn’t like that Harry had clearly talked about him with his friends.   _

_ “I guess,” he said, not sure if he should take responsibility for being himself or not. He didn’t know what Liam had heard about him. _

_ “If you aren’t doing anything, you should come up,” Liam told him, his smile warm and his eyes kind. “Meet some people since you’re still new in town, get your feet wet.” _

_ Louis wanted to do absolutely nothing that involved spending time with Harry, but he liked the idea of hanging out with Liam. The guy seemed nice, and apart from Ashton, Louis hadn’t really made any friends since his move. Parties were great places to meet people, and he missed social interaction. Despite his distaste for Harry, he found that he kind of did want to go. _

_ He shrugged, noncommittally. “I don’t know.” _

_ “Harry won’t mind,” Liam assured him. “If he even notices. He was pretty drunk when I left. And I need a beer pong partner.” _

_ Well, Louis would never say no to a game of beer pong. _

_ “Alright,” he agreed, and Liam led him up to Harry’s apartment after they finished their cigarettes.  _

_ They entered the apartment to dim lights, loud chatter and louder music. Louis found that the apartment’s layout looked almost exactly like his, except unlike Louis’ apartment, Harry had decorated with weird art that hung on the walls, velvet couches and a shag rug. Of course he had.  _

_ Liam introduced Louis around to a few people as they made their way to the kitchen, where a game of beer pong was ending. Louis noticed that Liam’s name was next in line on the piece of paper taped to the refrigerator. They stood off to the side and watched as Harry and his partner, a guy with bleached blonde hair and an Irish accent, shouted in triumph as the guy tossed the ball into the last of the opposing team’s cups. _

_ Harry looked ridiculous, in a loud, patterned Hawaiian style shirt and skinny jeans, but before Louis could interpret his fashion choices for longer than a moment, the Irish guy ran up to him and Liam with a huge grin on his face. _

_ “No shit!” he exclaimed, taking Louis’ face in his hands and staring deeply into his eyes, as if Louis’s face held all of the answers to the universe. “Are you…” He paused for what Louis could only assume was dramatic effect. “Zayn?” _

_ “Uh…” _

_ Liam laughed. “No, you idiot. I told you Zayn’s in Pakistan visiting his extended family for the month. This is Harry’s neighbor, Louis.” _

_ “Oh, right,” the guy said, looking sad that Louis was not whoever the hell Zayn was for a small second, before getting over that and introducing himself. _

_ “Well, I’m Niall. It’s nice to meet you, even if you aren’t Zayn.” _

_ “It’s nice to meet you t-” _

_ “LOUIS!” _

_ Louis was cut off by a very inebriated Harry, who stumbled over to him with a drink in his hand. Louis wrinkled his nose and took a step back. Harry looked like he could spill his drink on someone at any moment. _

_ “What are you doing here?” Harry slurred, holding onto Niall to keep his balance. “Did I invite you? I remember thinking I should, but I don’t remember actually doing it. I should have though. I’m very sorry if I didn’t, which I don’t think I did.” _

_ He babbled on about invitations and apologies for a few more seconds before Liam intervened. _

_ “I invited him, Harry,” he said, while Louis blinked at Harry in amusement. Amusement that lasted for all of about five seconds before Harry’s face turned green and he promptly bent over and threw up all over Louis’ shoes. _

_ Niall started laughing uncomfortably while Louis replayed the scene in his head in slow motion before he lost it. _

_ “Are you fucking kidding me?!” he shouted, causing several people nearby to look over at him, but he didn’t care. These were his favorite pair of Adidas sneakers.  _

_ Harry groaned and hung his head in shame, mumbling more apologies. Niall patted him on the back comfortingly while Louis seethed, wanting to run out the door but staying put so as not to cause a bigger mess. _

_ “Um,” Liam winced. “When I said you should get your feet wet, I promise this isn’t what I had in mind.” _

_ \----- _

Louis waited three more days before breaking and finally deciding to just bite the bullet and ask Harry to pretend to be his boyfriend- having exhausted all other options. He’d actually looked up escorts on  _ Craigslist _ , before deciding he’d rather not be murdered. He couldn’t believe he’d ever be this desperate, but here he was, about to go ask the most annoying person in the world to pretend to be his boyfriend for Christmas. Louis was starting to wonder if he should start seeing a therapist. How did he end up in these situations? 

Ashton raised his eyebrows when Louis told him he was going to get some tea from the bakery on Wednesday morning, but seemed to think better of asking him why, and asked Louis to grab him a scone while he was there instead. 

Harry was standing behind the counter when Louis walked in, the little bell tinkling above the door. His hair was pushed out of his face by a head band and he was wearing a purple polka dotted apron as he hummed along to the Christmas music playing softly over the speakers and arranged thumb drop cookies on a tray. His scent hit Louis as soon as he entered the shop, stronger to him than the yummy scents of the bakery, and he  _ hated _ how good Harry always smelled.

“Be with you in just a sec,” Harry said without looking up from his work.

Louis nodded even though Harry wasn’t looking at him, and looked at the shop around him instead. He hadn’t been to the bakery in ages, tried not to come in at all if he could help it--and the space was just as annoying as ever. There were puns everywhere, as if the name of the bakery itself (Cake A Diem) wasn’t annoying enough. There was a gluten free section in the front case labeled “Off the Wheaten Path,” as well as a big black pot full of individually wrapped brownies labeled “Pot Brownies” by the cash register.  _ Fucking ridiculous _ .

Harry finally looked up to greet Louis, with a smile that faltered upon seeing who it was that had entered the shop.

“Hey,” he said cautiously, like he was worried Louis was about to ransack the place or something. 

“Hey,” Louis tried for a smile. “Can I get a tea to go?”

Harry nodded slowly, distrustful of the this situation, and reached for the kettle on the back counter. “What kind would you like? I’ve got Earl Gray, Mint, Chamomile...”

“Earl Gray is good,” Louis told him, rocking awkwardly back and forth on the balls of his feet. He was stalling. He didn’t even know where to begin. 

“Are you the only one here?” he asked, realizing that Cara and Kendall, the girls who usually manned the store while Harry worked in the back, were nowhere to be seen. 

“Cara’s at the store,” Harry told him. “We’re almost out of eggs. And Kendall already went home for Christmas.”

Louis nodded, sad that he’d missed them. He liked Kendall and Cara. They often came into the record store to browse during their breaks from the bakery and were the only reason Louis ever ventured into the shop on days when he was feeling brave.

Harry handed Louis his tea and Louis took a deep breath, deciding just to dive right in.

“Look, I have a really weird favor to ask,” he said, cradling the tea in his hands, fully prepared to use it as a weapon if need be.

Harry nodded for him to continue.

“You’re going to think I’m fucking crazy,” Louis shook his head at himself. He couldn’t believe he was about to do this. “But long story short, my family wouldn’t stop nagging me about getting a boyfriend, so I kind of told them that I’m seeing someone when I was home a few months ago.”

Harry continued to look at him blankly, like he didn’t know why Louis was telling him this. To be fair, Louis didn’t know why he was telling him this either.

“The thing is…” Louis took a deep breath. “I don’t actually have a boyfriend, so I made one up.” He reached up to fix his fringe. “Well, kind of. I didn’t really make up a person. I told them I’m dating you.” 

Harry’s eyebrows shot up at that, and Louis laughed uncomfortably. “And now my sisters are coming in town and they want to meet my boyfriend, and basically I’m totally screwed.”

He let that simmer as he talked himself into the next bit.

"Um..." Harry said slowly after a moment. "Okay. That's... this is... Let me get this straight." He lifted up a hand and swallowed. "You told your family that you have a boyfriend... and  _ my _ name was the first one you thought of?"

"Harry Potter was on TV, alright? It wasn't that much of a stretch." Louis pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t believe he was explaining himself to  _ Harry fucking Styles _ . He couldn’t believe he was stooping this low. "Forget it. I'm sorry I even thought about bringing you into this."

Harry snorted. "What? Did you want me to pretend to be your boyfriend or something?"

Louis grimaced at him and Harry abruptly stopped laughing, comprehension dawning across his face. "Wait--are you serious?"

"Honestly, just forget it," Louis waved his hand dismissively, as if he was batting away a fly. "It was stupid of me to even consider asking you to play along. Do you know which type of scone Ashton usually gets? I told him I’d bring one back."

Harry blinked at the sudden subject change but nodded, walking over to the section of the pastry case labeled "The Rolling Scones". Louis sighed and refrained from making a snide comment about the name, while Harry grabbed an orange cranberry scone and warmed it up before sliding it into a brown paper bag.

"I'll, um," Harry shook his head slightly as he rung Louis up at the cash register. "I'll play along."

Louis nearly choked on his own spit.  _ What?! _

"For real?" He was almost scared to double check, worried Harry was either trolling him or would change his mind. "... _ Why? _ "

Harry bit his lip and cocked his head. "Why not?"

He was even weirder than Louis originally thought. Louis could think of a hundred reasons why not, but he decided to just accept this positive turn of events and didn’t press the issue.

“Alright,” he said. “Well, thanks. You’re kind of saving my life here.”

“Sure,” Harry smiled. He had a nice smile. Slightly crooked. “So what do you need me to do?”

Louis hadn’t thought this far ahead. He didn’t expect Harry to agree, so he hadn’t planned past the asking-him-to-be-his-fake-boyfriend part. They definitely needed some kind of plan though. His sisters were far too perceptive for them to get by with just winging it. 

“Um.” He took a sip of his tea to stall, right as the door opened behind them and an elderly beta couple walked in, bundled up in their warmest clothes even though it wasn’t  _ that _ cold outside. They were having a pleasant winter so far.

“How about we meet up tonight?” Harry said, already half turning his attention to the new customers, who were intently perusing the cakes in the pastry case. “We can talk more about this then.”

“Yeah, sounds good.” Louis nodded, then he remembered they didn’t have a way of contacting each other. “Do you need my number?”

Harry shook his head. “I know where you live.” He winked at him. Louis’ stomach betrayed him and did some kind of stupid fluttery thing. 

 

Later that night, Louis was tidying up the apartment for Lottie and Fizzy’s arrival while a freezer lasagna cooked in the oven, when a knock sounded on his door. He took a deep breath to prepare himself for whatever nonsense was about to go down, and reminded himself that he needed to play nice, before opening the door. 

Harry greeted him with a timid smile and a cardboard box. 

"What is that?" Louis asked, tone probably a bit too accusatory considering Harry was going to be doing him a massive favor over the next several days.

Harry wordlessly pushed past him into the apartment and Louis watched on as he surveyed the place and nodded to himself.

"Same floor plan as mine," Harry told him, and started pulling random items out of the box.

"What are you doing?" Louis asked, because it didn’t seem like Harry was going to tell him any time soon, and Louis could already tell his stupidly delicious Alpha scent was going to start stinking up the place the longer he was here.

"Saving your ass," Harry answered cryptically, and Louis had to bite back an annoyed retort.  _ Was a straightforward answer too much to ask? _

Louis rolled his eyes instead and followed behind Harry as he emptied the box around the apartment. First, he took out a pair of his signature suede boots and lined them up with Louis' by the front door. Then, he moved to the living room and placed a half burned pumpkin pie scented candle on Louis' coffee table, as well as a dog eared copy of  _ Pulp _ by Charles Bukowski. He made his way to the kitchen next, and slid a saran wrapped loaf of some kind of sweet bread onto the counter before heading to the bathroom, where he put an extra toothbrush in the rinse cup next to Louis'.

That's when Louis finally got it. Harry was making it seem like he often stayed over, like a part of him existed in Louis' space. It was actually... really smart. 

Harry finished by throwing a Green Bay packers hoodie over the back of the chair in Louis' bedroom, and Louis wondered if he should be angry with him for invading his privacy without asking first... but he was too grateful that Harry thought of this at all.  Louis never would have thought of this himself, and he realized now that they were going to have to put some actual effort into this to make it believable. 

"Okay," Harry said, nodding to himself. "Now, where's your phone?"

"Uh," Louis patted at his pockets before remembering he left it in the kitchen with a timer set for the lasagna.

He gestured for Harry to follow and grabbed his phone off the counter and handed it to him, wondering what he was going to do with it.

"Right," Harry said, "Come on then. Smile."

He saddled up next to Louis, put his arm around him and counted to three. Louis smiled, and at the last second, Harry turned his head and kissed him on the cheek. Louis’ skin tingled, the shock starting where Harry’s lips touched his skin and shooting throughout his entire body.  _ What the fuck? _

"There," Harry turned the phone so Louis could look at the screen. "That's your new lock screen." He typed away at the phone some more. “I’m putting in my number too.”

“Have you done this before or something?” Louis asked, moving a few steps away from him since his body decided to have a mind of it’s own when they were in close proximity. It felt like Harry had thought of everything.

Harry chuckled. “No, but my mind wanders a lot when I knead at work, and I thought this might be a good idea.”

“Thanks,” Louis said cautiously. 

“So, is there anything I should know about your sisters before I meet them?” Harry asked, leaning back against the kitchen counter.

“Like what?” Louis asked. 

“You know,” Harry rolled his eyes and put a hand on his hip. “Like, their  _ names _ . Are they older or younger than you? Are they omegas like you? Betas? Alphas?  Do you have any more siblings? Why aren’t you spending the holidays with your parents?”

Louis pursed his lips at Harry’s sassy tone and incessant and intrusive questioning. They were all things Harry would know if he was really Louis’ boyfriend though, so he sighed and answered.

“Lottie and Felicite,” he told him. “Lottie’s twenty-two and Fizzy’s nineteen. They’re both in college. Lottie’s a beta, but Fizzy’s an omega.” Harry groaned and scrunched up his face. Louis furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at that, but Harry didn’t explain that reaction, so he continued. “We’ve got four other younger siblings, two sets of twins, but they’re going to New York with our mom and stepdad. Our younger sisters are dancing in a Christmas Day parade.”

Harry raised his eyebrows, seemingly impressed. “Big family. But if one of your sisters is an omega, she’s probably going to notice and think it’s weird that my scent isn’t anywhere in your apartment.”

Shit, Louis hadn’t even thought of that. If he and Harry were actually dating, Harry’s scent would be everywhere. Not only because he’d spend more time with Louis, but also because Alphas were extremely territorial of their Omega partners or mates, and Harry definitely would have scent marked the place if they were as serious as Louis led his family to believe.  

“That’s a good point,” Louis admitted with a groan. “Her nose isn’t as good as an Alpha’s, but she would definitely notice.” He hadn’t even considered Fizzy being the problem here. She wasn’t nearly as skeptical as Lottie, but this could definitely blow his cover. 

“Should I… do you want me to like, scent mark a few things?” Harry asked hesitantly, looking at Louis like he thought he might start yelling at such a suggestion. Two days ago, Louis probably would have.

Louis knew it would be sexually frustrating as hell to live surrounded in an Alpha’s scent-- _ Harry’s _ scent--for the next few days, especially since he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. But he also knew letting Harry scent mark his apartment would be necessary if he really wanted to sell this thing. 

“I won’t mark the whole place,” Harry continued before Louis could answer, tone reassuring. “Just things that would start holding my scent over time anyway, like the couch or the rug in the bathroom.”

“My bedroom,” Louis muttered, more to himself than to Harry, but Harry heard him anyway with his stupid Alpha ears.

“What?”

“You’ll have to mark my bedroom,” Louis explained, face heating up in embarrassment despite himself. “Your scent would definitely be in there.”

“Yeah,” Harry cleared his throat. “I, uh… suppose it would.”

The timer went off on Louis’ phone, signalling that his lasagna was ready. He turned the timer off and nodded towards the rest of the apartment with a sigh.

“Do your worst.”

Harry nodded and walked out of the kitchen, running his palm along the counter on his way.

Louis cursed inwardly, Harry’s scent already wafting through the room and permeating his senses. It was going to be a long week.


	2. Chapter 2

Louis couldn’t sleep. Harry had gone home a few hours ago, but it felt like he’d left about half of himself behind. He’d littered Louis’ apartment with half of his stuff and his scent was  _ everywhere _ . Louis was starting to think dying would be a better idea than this charade. He hadn’t been this sexually frustrated since high school. His cock had been half hard since he laid down to sleep almost an hour ago, and he could feel slick starting to leak out of his hole. 

Harry had done a very thorough job with the scent marking. He’d kept his word, only marking places that would start carrying his scent over time anyway, but Louis was hypersensitive. He hadn’t been with an Alpha in well over a year, and his inner omega was being an idiot, thinking of Harry as a potential mate. 

Louis refused to jack off surrounded in Harry’s scent. Knowing his uncooperative dick, if he did, the next time he was actually around Harry he’d probably get hard again at the memory. Louis mentally ran through the plan he and Harry had discussed instead, to keep his mind off of his arousal.

Louis had previously told his family the truth of how he and Harry met- that he owned the bakery next door to the record store, and that Harry had approached Louis about his parking space. His family also knew that Harry lived in the apartment above Louis. The truth ended there. Harry insisted that they needed a story for how they got together, in case anyone asked, so the official story was that Harry asked Louis out after he came to apologize about the leak in the ceiling. (The true story was that Harry came to apologize about the leak in the ceiling and Louis told him that apologies didn’t replace expensive books. Harry offered to pay for replacements, but Louis didn’t like feeling indebted to an Alpha, so he more or less also told Harry to go fuck himself, but that was neither here nor there.)

They also discussed what Louis would consider the more… intimate details of their fake relationship.

_ “Have we told each other ‘I love you’ yet?” Harry asked, after they told each other enough information about their families to make their relationship credible. _

_ Louis sputtered and Harry shrugged, as if it was a perfectly sensible question. _

_ “We’re supposed to have been dating for about five months, right?” he asked. “I don’t really know the timeline for that kind of thing, but that seems reasonable.”  _

_ “Even if we had,” Louis replied. “I wouldn’t say that to you in front of my family.” Which was a lie. Louis was known to be pretty loud with his affection, but Harry didn’t know that. _

_ “Okay,” Harry nodded, accepting that easily. “What are you usually like with PDA?” _

_ Louis was starting to wonder if Harry had been an undercover agent or something in a past life. He was way too willing to jump through hoops to make this thing believable. He’d literally thought of everything. Louis was grateful, but he was also suspicious. It was like Harry was more invested in convincing Louis’ family than Louis was.  _

_ “I’ve never been shy with PDA, and my family knows that,” Louis admitted. “I mean, I’m not about to make out with you in front of my sisters to prove a point or anything, but we definitely need to hold hands occasionally, and you can kiss me on the cheek. Stuff like that.” _

Now, Louis was starting to think that he might spontaneously combust if Harry so much as looked at him for too long. There was no way he’d be able to handle Harry touching and kissing him. Thinking about it now was making his face hot and his skin itchy. 

Before he realized what he was doing, Louis’ hips started rubbing against the sheets beneath him, looking for any kind of friction. He inhaled deeply and Harry’s scent sent shivers down his body. He was painfully hard now, and he’d have to change his underwear once his ass stopped leaking slick. Louis groaned. His body hadn’t reacted like this without the actual physical presence of an Alpha since Louis first discovered porn. Jesus Christ, it was embarrassing. He tried to keep his hips still for all of five seconds before he gave up.

“Fuck it,” he hissed softly to himself. He leaned over and fumbled through the bottom drawer of his bedside table for a bottle of lube. He paused when his hand came in contact with one of his dildos- the one with the knot on the end that he typically saved for heats. Louis pondered using it for a moment, before deciding that knotting himself while thinking of Harry would definitely be a bad idea. In fact, he probably shouldn’t stick anything in his ass at all.

He always came better with a couple of fingers up his ass, but a hand on his cock would have to do. Louis squirted a bit of lube into his palm and flipped onto his back, kicking the sheets down and spreading his legs. He wrapped his hand around his cock and started working himself fast, determined to get this over with as soon as possible. Jacking off because Harry had overwhelmed him was bad enough, Louis wasn’t going to embarrass himself further by dragging it out.

Despite himself, Louis started wondering how Harry would fuck him as he worked his hand over his cock. 

Would Harry fuck Louis face down, moving his body so that he was on all fours with his ass in the air while Harry slammed into him? Or would he fuck Louis face to face, hold Louis’ hands above his head and gaze at him with green eyed intensity until Louis couldn’t take it anymore and had to close his eyes? 

Maybe he’d fuck Louis against a wall, because they would be too desperate to make it to the bedroom. It’d been way too long Louis had someone inside him, and he needed it so badly. He’d be a mess. Louis would probably beg, would rake his fingernails up and down Harry’s back before reaching down to squeeze his ass, and Harry would suck a biting mark into Louis’ neck-

“Oh fuck,” Louis moaned, spilling over into his hand, breath coming in short pants. 

He grabbed a wipe from the little packet he kept in his bedside table. He wiped off his hand before tossing the wipe into the trashcan and tried not to think about the fact that he came thinking about Harry mate marking him.

\-----

Lottie and Fizzy arrived in the middle of the afternoon on the 23rd. Fizzy announced their presence by texting Louis that they were outside of his apartment building, which he knew was code for ‘come carry our heavy shit’.

He slid a hoodie over his head and his favorite pair of slip on vans onto his feet, and went outside to meet them, finding them in the parking lot next to Lottie’s car. They looked lovely as ever, and Louis had really missed them despite having seen them only a month ago. He gave them both kisses on the cheek and grabbed one suitcase in each hand before leading them to his place.

"Welcome to my humble abode," Louis said and he ushered them inside. He put their suitcases down next to the couch and Fizzy closed the door against the cold. 

Lottie surveyed the place as she unwrapped a scarf from around her neck. Louis looked at his apartment as well, wondering what she was thinking about.

"Have you actually decorated?" she asked after a moment, “Like apart from the Christmas tree obviously.” 

She pointed to the artwork hanging over the fireplace with an astonished expression. “I’m impressed.”

Louis took offense to that. He'd always wanted to decorate, always had an eye for it, he'd just never had the money to buy nice decorations. He still hadn’t gone all out, just a few pieces of art on the walls and some throw pillows for the couch, but he was getting there. He felt like a proper adult and he was proud of his space.

"Who's are these?" Fizzy asked, pointing to Harry's boots next to the door. "Look too big to be yours, and I've never seen you wear shoes like that."

Louis cleared his throat. "Um. Those are Harry's."

"Oh," Lottie looked surprised. Thank God Harry had thought of everything. It was clear Lottie hadn’t bought into Louis’ story and he wouldn’t have been able to pull this off on his own.

"Do we get to meet him?" Fizzy asked, excitement playing across her features. "He didn’t go out of town for Christmas or anything, did he?"

Louis wanted to kick himself. He totally could have just told them that Harry had gone home for Christmas, and avoided all of the awkwardness of asking Harry to be his make believe boyfriend. Why didn't he think of that? Why didn't anyone  _ suggest  _ that?

"He’s staying here for Christmas," Louis begrudgingly told his sisters. "I'm sure you'll meet him at some point.

Fizzy beamed and turned to Lottie with a smirk. "You owe me twenty bucks."

Lottie gave her the stink eye in return. "Not yet."

"Why do you owe her twenty bucks?" Louis wondered, plopping down onto the couch. Lottie followed suit, sitting down in the arm chair in the corner of the room, but Fizzy remained standing.

"She doesn't think Harry is real." Fizzy informed him with a roll of her eyes. "But I had faith in you, Lou."

"So you  _ bet _ on me?" Louis asked incredulously.

"Yes," Lottie and Fizzy said simply, like it was completely normal to bet on your brother's relationships.  _ This _ kind of behavior was why he needed a fake boyfriend in the first place.

"Unbelievable," he muttered, crossing his arms over his chest

"Exactly," Lottie says, then turned back to Fizzy. "It’s unbelievable. Which is why I'm still holding off on that twenty bucks until we actually meet the guy."

What exactly about Louis having a boyfriend was so goddamn unbelievable? He was a catch if he did say so himself.

“Whatever,” Fizzy rolled her eyes at Lottie again, before winking at Louis. “Can I use the bathroom? Been holding it for the past hour.”

Louis nodded and gestured toward the direction of the bathroom and Fizzy skipped off. 

“So, what do you guys want to do today?” Louis turned to Lottie, who was making herself comfortable and taking off her shoes.

“Nothing for a bit if you don’t mind,” Lottie yawned and tucked her feet underneath her body. “Need to recover from the drive. Don’t know why road trips are so exhausting. Then I assume we’ll need to go to the store at some point.”

“Yeah I haven’t done much food shopping,” Louis admitted as he grabbed the remote and clicked on the TV.

“I figured,” Lottie said. “It’s fine. We made a list in the car.”

Louis nodded as he flipped through the channels. They decided on  _ The Holiday _ , which was about halfway over already and Lottie was gushing over Jude Law when Fizzy returned from the bathroom with a smug grin.

“What?” Lottie and Louis both eyed her suspiciously.

“You still totally owe me that twenty bucks,” Fizzy said to Lottie, plopping down on the couch next to Louis. “There’s an Alpha’s scent all over the bathroom.”

Seriously. Thank God Harry had thought of everything.

“Isn’t your friend Liam an Alpha?” Lottie asked Louis, rather than indulging Fizzy.

“Yes,” Louis answered.

Lottie crossed her arms over her chest. “Then I’m still waiting until we meet the guy.”

Fizzy snorted as she kicked off her shoes before settling down across the couch with her feet in Louis’ lap.

“You’re being ridiculous,” she said, but Lottie ignored her. 

Louis ignored both of them and watched as Kate Winslet and Jack Black bonded in the video store. He dozed off after a while, and woke up to Lottie gently shaking his shoulder and the TV rolling the film’s credits. 

“Fizzy is freshening up and then we’re going grocery shopping,” she told him. 

Louis nodded through a yawn and sat up. It took a moment for him to get his bearings- he was always more groggy after taking a nap than he’d been before- and then he went to his room to change into better clothes. He passed by Fizzy, who was reapplying her make-up in the bathroom.  

Louis wasn’t sure who exactly she was freshening up for, since she didn’t know anyone here and they were just going to the grocery store, but he didn’t comment. Louis on the other hand, almost always ran into the parent of a student when he went out, so he tried to look semi presentable. 

He exchanged his sweat pants for black jeans, and the hoodie for the soft, forest green sweater he’d bought a couple of weeks ago. It was one of his new favorites. He ran a hand through his hair to make sure it wasn’t too knotted, and then met Lottie and Fizzy back in the living room. 

“So what’s on the menu?” Louis asked as they made their way to the nearest grocery store- Lottie in the passenger seat and Fizzy in the back. 

“Figured there’s no way we’d be able to go full out with the turkey and everything,” Lottie said as she pulled her list up on her phone. “So I was just thinking ham, mashed potatoes, maybe a green bean casserole or something. Not sure what to do about dessert.”

“Maybe Harry can bake something!” Fizzy interjected from the back seat. “What are his plans? Is he spending the day with us?”

“Uh,” Louis hesitated. He and Harry hadn’t discussed what exactly the plans for actual Christmas day were. Louis assumed Harry would be busy with his own family, but then he remembered that Harry would be spending the holiday alone. As much as Harry annoyed him, Louis didn’t like the idea of anyone spending Christmas by themselves. 

Louis procrastinated answering that question by parking and re-parking the car. The store was packed, and parking spaces were tight.

“Louis,” Lottie said as they got out of the car. “Answer the question. I need to know how much food we need to buy.”

Louis pressed the lock button on his car, watching as the headlights flashed, before turning back to his sisters.

“I’m not sure,” He said. “We haven’t really discussed Christmas day plans. He might be doing something.”

“You don’t know what your own boyfriend is doing for Christmas?” Fizzy asked skeptically.

Louis ignored her in favor of walking through the sliding doors of the grocery store and grabbing a cart. 

“We’ll buy extra food just in case,” Louis suggested, avoiding answering the question directly. 

He was starting to feel uncomfortable about lying to his sisters, but he didn’t know how to get out of it now. Instead, he pulled his phone out to text Harry. He tried not to roll his eyes at the fact that Harry had put a pink emoji heart next to his name. 

_ Can you come over later ? w/ your game face on. my sisters DON’T THINK YOU’RE REAL _

Harry took at least half an hour to text back, as Lottie was double checking they had everything on her list and they were heading towards the check out. 

_ Your sisters are very perceptive _ .

Louis tried not to let his annoyance show on his face as he texted Harry back.

_ Can you come over or not? _

Harry’s second text came a lot more quickly.

_ Sorry, slammed at the bakery. I can’t stop by until after closing. _

_ What time will that be? _

_ Later. Like after 10. _

Louis locked his phone without texting Harry back and turned his attention back to his sisters, who were staring at their groceries way too intently to have not been staring at him seconds before.

“Harry’s busy at work,” he told them. 

“Of course he is,” Lottie murmured, and Louis lightly shoved her. She slapped him in the chest in retaliation.

“But he said he’ll stop by after closing,” Louis continued.

“Yay!” Fizzy squealed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “I’m excited to meet him, Lou.”

Louis was saved from responding when the cashier, a girl in one of his classes, greeted him. “Hey, Mr. Tomlinson.”

\---

Louis, Lottie and Fizzy were baking Christmas cookies and belting along to popular Christmas songs several hours later when someone knocked on the front door. Louis swallowed, knowing it was Harry, and wiped his hands off on a paper towel before moving to go let him in. 

He could feel Lottie and Fizzy’s eyes on him as he fumbled with the lock, and took a deep breath before opening the door to reveal Harry, who was wearing an obnoxiously ugly Christmas sweater and an even more obnoxiously endearing grin. He also had a brown paper sack in one arm that Louis hoped was filled with more treats from the bakery. He’d had some of the pumpkin bread Harry left on his counter, and it was way more delicious than it had a right to be.

“You look stupid,” Louis said, before he could think better of it. His sisters were watching like hawks and telling his boyfriend that he looked stupid probably wasn’t very convincing.

Harry put a hand to his heart and let out an exaggerated gasp. “You mean, festive and cute.”

Louis shook his head. “Stupid.”

Harry looked like he had a retort for that, and he was taking a deep breath to let Louis have it when he looked over Louis’ shoulder at Lottie and Fizzy, who Louis was sure were very obviously sizing him up.

Harry looked back down at Louis and then pulled him back outside with him and closed the door.

“Because this doesn’t look suspicious at all,” Louis huffed in annoyance. “What are you doing?”

“How thick do we need to lay it on?” Harry asked, ignoring Louis’ attitude.

Louis made a face. “Really fucking thick. Fizzy’s pretty much sold already, but Lottie needs a lot of convincing.” 

Harry took a deep breath, stood up straight, and nodded very seriously, like he was preparing for battle. “Okay.”

Louis took a deep breath as well, before opening the door back up behind him and leading Harry inside. Fizzy and Lottie stared at the pair of them expectantly. Louis was related to the least subtle people on the planet, honestly. If he actually cared what Harry thought, he’d be embarrassed.

“Girls, this is Harry,” he gestured to the general area Harry was standing in. “Harry, these are my sisters, Lottie and Fizzy.”

Harry beamed at them, and walked right over to shake their hands, turning on the same charm he’d used when he first met Louis. Fizzy blinked, before recovering quickly and shaking Harry’s hand, and Louis felt slightly better to know that Harry had a small effect on her too.  

“I’ve heard so much about both of you,” Harry lied smoothly. Louis was impressed by how comfortable he seemed.

“Wish we could say the same about you,” Lottie said, and Louis wanted to strangle her. If Harry actually was his boyfriend, that statement would be extremely hurtful. She had no tact. “But Louis is always really evasive when you get brought up.”

Harry laughed that off easily. Louis was starting to become grateful for the easy confidence he usually found annoying. “He likes to pretend that he hates me.”

“I’m not pretending,” Louis said darkly, before realizing that this attitude probably wouldn’t sell their story. 

However, after glancing at his sisters, he realized they were reading this as playful banter. Fizzy looked fond, and Lottie looked amused despite herself. Huh. Maybe he and Harry wouldn’t have to change too much of their behavior around each other after all.

“I know you’re not, babe,” Harry tapped Louis lightly on the ass, and Louis tried not to scowl.

Well, Louis would have to watch his behavior anyway. Harry seemed more than comfortable with the charade.

“I brought some leftover goodies from the bakery,” Harry announced, moving around Louis to make himself at home as he started pulling individually wrapped muffins and croissants out of the paper sack. “But I see you guys have started baking without me.”

He poked his lower lip out into a pout that Louis wanted to smack off of his face. He couldn’t decide if it was annoying or adorable, and that worried him.

“Just out of a box,” Louis told him, moving to stand between Harry and Fizzy. “I’m sure whatever you brought is better.”

Harry wrinkled his nose at the phrase ‘out of a box’ but kept his snobby baking comments to himself. 

“We were actually going to see if you wouldn’t mind baking something for Christmas dessert, Harry,” Fizzy said. “If you’re able to come to dinner, that is.”

Harry’s eyes widened briefly and he glanced at Louis, clearly trying to see what he thought about the invitation. Lottie watched on as she stirred the chocolate chips into the batter. 

“I know we didn’t talk about it,” Louis said, looking up at Harry and picking his words very carefully. “But we’d love for you to join us.”

Harry searched his face for a moment, like he was trying to decide if this was a real invitation, or if he should respectfully decline. Louis gave him a reassuring smile and Harry nodded.

“Sure,” He said and smiled at Fizzy and Lottie. “I’d love to. I’m opening presents with my family over Skype in the morning, but I’m free besides that.”

Fuck. Presents. Louis and Harry hadn’t gotten each other presents. Louis made a mental note to talk that over with Harry in private later. 

“Awesome!” Fizzy said, dipping her finger into the batter before bringing it to her mouth and licking it off. 

“What’s your family doing for Christmas, Harry?” Lottie asked conversationally. 

Harry leaned back against the counter and angled his body towards Louis’. Louis was hit with a wave of his scent and had a brief flashback of the night prior- desperate to get off and surrounded in that heady scent. His skin flushed and he tried to think of something else. The last thing he needed was for Harry to smell his arousal. 

“My sister and her boyfriend just got engaged,” Harry said, and was Louis imagining it or was Harry getting even closer to him? “So my parents are meeting his parents and doing that whole thing.”

Harry’s scent continued to roll off of him and Louis had another flashback- this time to the memory of coming when he thought about Harry marking him. His dick twitched in his pants and he clenched his ass cheeks together in what would be a futile attempt to keep from getting wet if he didn’t get it the fuck together. Now was absolutely not the time. It would never be the time. Especially not with Harry, God damnit. Although... Louis had to admit that the idea of hate fucking was kind of hot.

No. No no  _ no _ . Louis shook his head to get rid of that thought. Jesus Christ, what was wrong with him? He bit back a groan and came back to the conversation to find everyone looking at him strangely. 

“You okay?” Harry asked, reaching out to run a gentle hand down Louis’ arm.

Louis flushed even more in embarrassment at getting caught thinking about having sex with Harry. Lottie was looking at him like he was crazy, Harry looked confused and concerned, but Fizzy looked smug and knowing. 

“Sorry,” Louis said. “Just got lost in thought. What’s up?”

“We were thinking about putting a movie on,” Harry said. “I was telling the girls that my family watches  _ It’s A Wonderful Life _ every year and Lottie said you all watch _ A Christmas Carol _ , so we were thinking we can watch one tonight and one tomorrow.”

Louis smiled. Of course his sisters would want to watch  _ A Christmas Carol _ . They’d been watching it every year since any of them could remember. Louis imagined the sense of tradition and nostalgia was the same for Harry and  _ It’s A Wonderful Life _ . Louis didn’t think he’d ever seen the latter all the way through- just bits and pieces that he caught on television. 

“Sure,” Louis said. “Which one should we watch first?”

Harry shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me.”

“Let’s do  _ It’s A Wonderful Life _ tonight,” Lottie suggested. “We always do _ A Christmas Carol _ on Christmas Eve for your birthday, Lou. It’s tradition.”

Louis felt Harry stiffen slightly beside him and wondered if he’d been lying when he said he didn’t care which movie they watched first. 

“Cool,” Harry said. “I’ve got a copy at my place. Louis, will you come up with me for a second?”

Louis was about to ask why Harry needed an escort upstairs, but thought better of it when he saw the serious and expectant look on Harry’s face.

“Sure,” he said suspiciously. 

“We’ll be right back,” Harry said to Lottie and Fizzy and then led Louis out of the apartment.

“Why is it that you need my help getting a DVD?” Louis asked with a roll of his eyes as he followed Harry up the stairs to his door.

“Your birthday is tomorrow?” Harry asked as he turned his key into the lock and pushed the door open. “Don’t you think that’s something you should have told me?”

He stalked into the apartment, Louis a few steps behind him. Not much had changed since Louis last stepped foot into Harry’s apartment, except that now there was a Christmas tree in the corner and twinkle lights hung on the wall and nobody was puking on Louis’ shoes. 

“Why should I have told you that?” Louis wondered, trying to ignore how good Harry’s apartment smelled. Louis thought his place was bad since Harry marked it, but Harry’s space was almost suffocating with how amazing it smelled.

“Uh...” Harry looked at Louis like he was an idiot before walking over to crouch in front of his entertainment center. “Because your birthday is something your boyfriend should know about?”

Oh, right. To be honest, with the chaos of his holiday plans changing and the whole secret boyfriend thing, Louis had kind of forgotten about his birthday. It wasn’t a really important one either. Nobody cared about twenty-nine. His next birthday would be the big one. 

Damn, he was getting old. No wonder his family was so worried about him finding a mate. 

“It’s not a big deal,” Louis said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “My birthday is overlooked every year. We’ve never done much for it.”

Harry frowned at that, but continued his search for the DVD without saying anything else. 

“Got it,” he said after a moment. “So, how do you think it’s going?”

He stood up and looked at Louis like the answer was really important to him. Louis didn’t get it.

“I think they like you,” Louis said with a nod. He couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He’d thought he wanted his family to be swept off of their feet with his charming, perfect Alpha boyfriend, but now he realized he didn’t want them getting attached since it would never go anywhere.

“I mean, it’s only been like half an hour, but I think we’re good so far.”

“Good.” Harry smirked. “Now we just have to cuddle through a movie and then we get to call it a night.”

Louis narrowed his eyes. “Don’t make me punch you.”

Harry laughed. “Don’t be like that, pumpkin.”

“Oh, my God.” Louis turned on his heel and walked out of the apartment. Harry continued to laugh behind him all the way down the stairs. 

“What’s funny?” Fizzy asked pleasantly when they walked back inside. She was popping the cookie tray into the oven while Lottie loaded their dirty dishes into the dishwasher.

“Nothing,” Louis said. “Let’s get this started.”

He was ready to get this show on the road and for this night to be over.

“You two get it started,” Lottie said. “We’re almost finished here.”

Harry passed Louis the DVD and got settled on the end of the couch while Louis fiddled with the DVD player and his TV. He waited by the TV until the DVD menu came up, and then he grabbed the remote and made his way over to Harry. Louis hesitated briefly before grabbing a blanket and sitting down next to him. 

He hadn’t thought about it before Harry mentioned cuddling, but this would be where they could really sell their relationship. They needed to look comfortable in each other’s space--it would definitely raise suspicion if they didn’t. Harry appeared to be on the same wavelength, because he nodded at Louis reassuringly and gestured that it was okay for him to scoot closer. 

Louis took a deep breath before kicking off his shoes and bringing his legs up onto the couch. He nestled into Harry’s side and threw the blanket over their laps. Harry laid his arm on the back of the couch behind Louis’ head.

Fizzy joined them first and sat down in the arm chair, saving the spot next to the lovebirds for Lottie.

“I set a timer for the cookies,” she said. “They’ll be ready soon, but we can go ahead and get started.”

Louis nodded and pressed play on the movie once Lottie had joined them too, after turning the light off in the kitchen and leaving them with only the light of the TV.

Harry shifted slightly as the opening credits played, and Louis became all too aware of their proximity. Harry was warm and firm next to him, his neck so close to Louis’ nose that Louis briefly stopped breathing in an effort to stop smelling. Harry’s breath on the other hand, was slow and rhythmic, and Louis could imagine being lulled to sleep with his head on Harry’s chest while he listened to the soothing pattern. He nearly slid down to lay his head on Harry’s chest now, when the timer for the cookies went off and he was brought back to his senses.

Fuck, they hadn’t even been sitting together ten minutes and Louis was already completely losing his mind. Lottie lept up for the cookies and Louis was about to try to subtly shift away from Harry a bit when Harry went and ruined that plan by taking his arm off the back of the couch and wrapping it around Louis’ waist. 

Lottie set the cookies out to cool while Louis tried not to look like he was seconds away from a panic attack, and Fizzy watched the film, totally oblivious. 

Louis tried to focus on the movie to take his mind off of Harry, and he succeeded for a little while until Harry leaned in to whisper in Louis ear that the scene they were watching was one of his favorite parts. Suddenly, every nerve in his body was on alert again. Harry seemed to notice his discomfort and tightened his arm around Louis’ waist in what Louis was sure was an attempt to be comforting, but was actually the complete opposite.

Harry whispered in his ear again, voice barely even a breath. “Stop freaking out. Nobody’s even paying attention to us.”

Louis could almost laugh at how wrongly Harry had read the situation. Louis wasn’t freaking out because he thought they weren’t playing their part well and his sisters were going to catch on, he was freaking out because he needed Harry’s cock in his ass like five minutes ago. And he was also freaking out because he wasn’t supposed to be attracted to Harry. He was supposed to hate him. He did hate him.

“Sorry,” Louis mumbled. “Can’t seem to sit still.”

“Do you want me to help you calm down?” Harry asked, and Louis didn’t know what that meant but he was desperate so he shrugged. 

“Sure,”

Harry squeezed Louis’ waist again, before bringing his hand up to rest at the nape of his neck and guiding Louis’ head to his chest. Louis realized what Harry was about to do as he listened to the steady beat of his heart.

“Sit still and watch the movie, Lou,” Harry murmured soothingly, with just the tiniest hint of Alpha in his voice, but it was enough to make Louis feel like he’d just taken a hit of the world’s finest weed, and enough to catch Fizzy’s attention.

She glanced over at the pair of them with a look of mild interest, that turned into a pleased smile when Harry started smelling up the room with his pheromones. He was scent marking Louis, which was the easiest way to soothe an omega. It was also one of the most intimate, and objectively, Louis knew he should be angry with Harry for taking such liberty, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care when it felt so good.

Fizzy probably assumed this was a sweet daily ritual. If Louis and Harry were actually dating, it would be. She smiled brightly at Louis in omega camaraderie and understanding, knowing exactly how doped up he was starting to feel, and turned back to the TV. 

Louis couldn’t focus on the movie anymore, and instead wondered how amazing sex with Harry would be, if cuddling had him this blissed out. Clearly, he had a one track mind. It was becoming impossible for him to think of Harry and not think about sex. He started getting hard and bit down on the inside of his cheek, trying to will his erection away.

No matter how much he tried to clench down on his arousal, it was only a matter of time before Harry started to notice, and Louis was so aware of everything Harry at the moment that he was able to tell exactly when that was.

Harry’s body stiffened and he inhaled deeply. His heart started beating faster in Louis’ ear and Louis cursed inwardly. He was about to pull back in embarrassment to offer a sheepish apology, when Harry’s scent changed. If Louis thought Harry smelled good before, it was  _ nothing _ to how he smelled now. Arousal poured out of him in thick, heady waves and felt like it was seeping into Louis’ pores. 

Louis was instantly both rock hard and wet. He turned his face into Harry’s chest to hide his whine and was trying to convince himself that straddling his lap was a bad idea when Fizzy cleared her throat.

“Do we need to leave you two alone?”

Louis groaned and Harry winced. Lottie looked over at the pair of them, then to Fizzy, then back to Harry and Louis. She couldn’t smell what was going on, but it was clear she’d picked up on it by the shit eating grin that split out onto her face. 

Louis wanted to crawl into a hole and die. He didn’t know what to do, and Harry wasn’t making any moves to remedy the situation either.

“Go smell up Louis’ bedroom,” Fizzy waved them away. “The movie is just getting really good.”

Harry shifted underneath Louis, and at a loss for anything else to do, Louis stood up. Harry followed suit and Louis led the way to his bedroom, telling his sisters that they’d be right back. 

He just needed to be doused in cold water first.

He was trying to come up with a good excuse for his behavior when Harry closed his bedroom door.

“Sorry,” Harry blurted out as soon as he turned around. His face was beet red and his neck splotchy. Louis could smell that he was embarrassed. “I wasn’t thinking. I was just trying to help, but obviously scent marking you could cause arousal.”

Louis opened his mouth to apologize too, but Harry interrupted him.

“It’s not your fault,” he said. “It was a normal biological reaction.”

Louis nodded, relieved that Harry was making the excuses for him. “Right. And same with you. Any Alpha would get aroused around an aroused omega.”

Harry coughed and for some reason turned even redder. “Yeah. Right. Of course. Biology. Yes.”

They stared at each other for a second.

“Right,” Louis said again, just trying to do away with the uncomfortable silence. He was also trying to look anywhere but at Harry’s crotch, telling himself that he didn’t need to see if Harry was also hard up or not.

Harry coughed again. “Well, I think I’m gonna get going. I didn’t realize how late it was and I’ve got an early start and a busy day tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Louis nodded, thinking that was probably for the best. He needed Harry to get out of his apartment before he did something really embarrassing like start humping his leg.  

“Just, um,” Harry cleared his throat and reached down to adjust his pants. And there went Louis’ plan not to look at his crotch. Harry really needed to get out.

“Text me when you want me to come over,” Harry finished. 

“I will, yeah,” Louis told him. 

Harry nodded and rushed out of the room. Louis heard him telling his sisters that he needed to get to bed and that he’d see them tomorrow. He waited until he heard the front door close before he left his bedroom.

His sisters were waiting for him with the movie paused and the side lamp turned on. 

“I love him,” Fizzy announced as soon as Louis reappeared.

“Me too,” Lottie nodded. “He’s really lovely. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you, Lou.”

Fizzy let out a triumphant “Ha!” and held her hand out to Lottie. Lottie grumbled, but pulled a twenty out of her back pocket and placed it in Fizzy’s hand. Louis felt more confused than ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm like... the literal worst at responding to comments, so I'm sorry if I haven't gotten to yours. I do read and appreciate each one!


	3. Chapter 3

Louis woke up early the next morning with a colossal headache. He’d barely slept the night before, and when he had managed to catch some sleep, he had dreams that just ended up startling him awake anyway. He blamed his sleepless night on the stress of his current predicament.

He went to the bathroom and washed his face before making his way to the kitchen, quietly when he saw that Lottie and Fizzy were still sound asleep on the inflatable mattress in the middle of the living room floor. Louis poured himself a glass of water and headed back to his bedroom, thinking he’d let them sleep in for a while longer.

He yawned as he slid back under the covers and grabbed his phone from his nightstand. He had Happy Birthday texts from Dan, Niall, Phoebe and Daisy, as well as one from Harry, which surprised him.

_ Don’t know if I’ll see you today so Happy Birthday! And sorry again about last night. _

Louis frowned. What did Harry mean he didn’t know if he’d see Louis today? He’d told Louis last night to text him when he wanted Harry to come over. Had the scent marking fiasco really affected him so much that he didn't even want to come over anymore? Louis thought he was the person who'd embarrassed himself the most in that situation. Maybe Louis' reaction had freaked Harry out so much that being around Louis now made him uncomfortable.

For some reason, the thought of Harry not wanting to be around him anymore made disappointment and anxiety sit heavy deep in the pit of Louis' stomach. He didn't like it. Louis was the one who was supposed to want to avoid Harry, not the other way around. 

Louis groaned. He knew this feeling. He knew where this was going. And he didn't like it.

So he did the only thing he could think of to do in this situation, and called Liam to whine about what he'd gotten himself into.

Liam picked up on the fourth ring.

“Hello?”

He sounded like he was still half asleep, but Louis knew that Liam was normally an early riser and was quick to perk up once he was awake so he dove right in anyway.

“We have a problem,” Louis announced.

“What?” Liam said, still sounding slightly out of it. “Hold on just a sec.”

Louis heard ruffling on the other end of the line and wondered if Liam was getting out of bed. He also heard a man’s voice that was decidedly not Liam’s asking a question and Liam murmuring back in response. Louis' brow furrowed in confusion. Had Liam actually brought a guy back home? Well. Good for him.

“Okay,” Liam sighed, his breath causing a staticky sound over the phone and Louis heard a door close in the distance. "What did you do?"

"What do you mean what did  _ I _ do?"

"Well," Liam said blandly. "You did do something, didn't you?"

This time, Louis was the one who sighed. "Maybe. I'm not really sure if it's my fault, though."

Liam didn't say anything, waiting silently for Louis to elaborate.

"So" Louis lowered his voice, wary of his sisters waking up and listening in to his conversation. "You know how Harry's pretending to be my boyfriend, right?"

"Wait," Liam interrupted, sounding incredulous. "You actually asked him to do that? And he agreed?"

"Yeah," Louis answered. He'd forgotten that he never told Liam or Niall that he actually followed through with their plan. He didn't know why Liam sounded so appalled though. He'd been there when they discussed it. He'd been a proponent of the whole thing.

Or maybe that had just been Niall. Louis couldn't remember the details.

"Anyway," Louis continued. "Long story short, he scent marked me last night and  _ things _ happened. "

"Why did he scent mark you?" Liam asked, suddenly sounding very stern and serious. "Did he have your consent to do that?"

Louis paused. He often forgot how opinionated Liam could be about Alpha/omega politics. It was one of the few things Liam was both opinionated and also decently educated about. Louis supposed he would have to be, given that Liam taught A/B/O Dynamics in health class to high schoolers.

"I was kind of freaking out," Louis said. "He didn't explicitly say he was going to scent mark me, but he did mention trying to comfort me before he did it. And it was fine, because it also simultaneously helped us keep up appearances for my sisters. But I got kind of... aroused during it, and then he got aroused because I was aroused, and now I think he's avoiding me."

Liam was silent for a moment, and when he spoke again he sounded like he was choosing his words very carefully. 

"I don't think a mutual arousal would cause Harry to avoid you. Besides, getting turned on when an Alpha is scenting you is a natural omega reaction to that kind of stimuli. Harry knows that. We're taught that when we take Alpha Ed in school."

Louis ignored his surprise that Liam even knew the word stimuli, much less how to use it correctly in a sentence, and made a noise of agreement. Omegas were taught their own version of that in Omega Ed. He knew that his reaction was natural, and he knew that Harry knew it too. Harry had basically said the exact same thing the night before. 

"I know," Louis allowed. "It was just kind of awkward and then he texted me this morning saying that he didn't know if he'd see me today."

"Louis," Liam sounded resigned. "If something else is going on here, please just spit it out. Are you attracted to Harry? Like, in more than just the usual omega being attracted to an Alpha way?"

Louis swallowed and hung his head. "I think so."

He knew so. He'd always been attracted to Harry on some level, but having Harry suddenly in his space was affecting Louis in ways he hadn't anticipated. Before, he'd always been able to craft this image of Harry in his mind and form his opinion of him off of that. Being around Harry was proving what Niall and Liam had always told Louis- he was actually a pretty nice guy. 

Liam laughed and Louis demanded to know what was so funny. 

"This is your own fault," Liam said. "If you'd just been honest with your family in the first place, you wouldn't be in this situation."

Louis rolled his eyes even though Liam couldn't see him. "Thank you, Liam. That's super helpful. I hadn't already figured that out on my own."

“Well I’m not sure what you want me to do, bro,” Liam said. “This seems like an imaginary problem for me. I think you should just go for it.”

Louis sputtered. “Just  _ go _ for it? I can’t just go for it!”

“Why not? What are you, thirteen?” It sounded like Liam was rolling his eyes. He better not have been rolling his eyes. “You’re attracted to him. He’s attracted to you. Just go for it.”

Louis scoffed. Harry was not attracted to him. Liam had said it himself. His reaction to Louis last night was completely natural and did not in any way reflect Harry’s true feelings towards Louis. Clearly Liam was no help, so Louis hung up with him and called Niall instead, who somehow managed to be less helpful. He simply laughed at Louis for a good thirty seconds before Louis hung up on him too.

Louis laid back and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes, until he started to hear movement on the other side of his bedroom door. Whoever it was used the bathroom before knocking on Louis’ door.

“Come in!” he said, and turned to see Fizzy walking through the door, her hair piled on top of her head and her eyes still red with sleep. 

“Happy Birthday,” she grunted, climbing into the bed next to him. Louis scooted over to make room. He would be very surprised if Lottie didn’t sleep half the day away, but Fizzy had always been an early riser.

“I wasn't sure if you’d be awake yet,” Fizzy murmured, head joining Louis’ on his pillow. “You’re turning into an actual adult, huh? Waking up early with your job and your store and your hot Alpha boyfriend, who really is great by the way.”

“Thanks,” Louis said sheepishly. 

Speaking of being an adult with responsibilities, he would need to drop by the record store in a bit. Ashton and Luke were the only people working today, and they were only open for half the day since it was Christmas Eve. Louis trusted Ashton to manage the store, but he still wanted to pop in and check on everything. Maybe he’d bring breakfast as a thank you for working Holiday hours. 

He glanced at the clock. It was just after nine, so he figured he should get a move on if he was going to provide breakfast. 

“I need to stop by the record store for a bit,” Louis announced, throwing the covers back. “You can come with me if you want, or you can stay here.”

Fizzy sat up and stretched. “I’ll come with. I want to see the store and I wanted to see Harry’s bakery too. Just give me twenty minutes to get ready.”

Louis showered while Fizzy used the mirror in his room to get ready, and they left half an hour later, leaving a note for a sleeping Lottie to let her know where they were when she woke up. 

“You seem to be doing really great here,” Fizzy noted as she fiddled with the heater and seat warmers in Louis’ car on their short drive to the store. “Mom worries, you know. She wants a full report from me and Lottie when we get back.”

Louis refrained from making a snide comment about his meddling family in favor of backing into a parking space at the front of the record store.

“Happy Birthday, Boss Man!” Luke greeted Louis as he walked in the front entrance, Fizzy filing in behind him.

“Good morning!” Louis said, surveying the shop to see they were completely alone. Nobody was buying any records as last minute Christmas presents, apparently. The people were going to be seriously music deprived come Christmas morning. 

“Ashton in the back?” he asked Luke, who nodded distractedly as his attention was drawn to Fizzy.

Louis introduced the two of them before excusing himself to the back. Ashton was organizing the storage room, which they only did when they were bored and had nothing else to do. 

“We been dead like this all morning?” Louis asked, startling Ashton out of his concentration. 

“Jesus,” he hissed, throwing the t-shirt he’d been folding at Louis’ chest. “You should come with a bell.”

Louis laughed and tossed the t-shirt back. “Not my fault you’re so easily spooked.”

“Yeah, it’s been slow as hell,” Ashton said, ignoring Louis’ comment in favor of answering his previous question. “We’ve had a few people in, but it’s been really quiet.”

Louis nodded. “You can send Luke home early if it stays like this. If he wants to stay, that’s fine too, but he doesn’t have to.”

Louis knew Luke was relying on his extra holiday hours at the store to pay for his text books next semester, but he didn’t want him to feel obligated to work if they weren’t busy and he’d rather be home with his family. 

“I’ll ask him,” Ashton said, pulling a chair over from the break table and straddling it. “What are you doing here anyway? Thought you were spending the day with your sisters.”

Luke took that moment to join them in the backroom, with an annoying announcement.

“Your sister is so hot!” he exclaimed, loud enough that Fizzy could probably hear him from the front of the store. “Is she single?”

“She’s an omega,” Louis said blandly.

“Obviously,” Luke shrugged. “I may have a beta nose but it’s still a nose. What does that matter?”

“Well, you’re not an Alpha?” Louis felt like this was self-explanatory, but judging by the looks on his employees’ faces, apparently it wasn’t. 

Ashton scoffed and Luke rolled his eyes. 

“C’mon man, could you be less progressive? More Alphas and omegas are mating with betas than ever before.”

Louis knew that. He read the news and was active on social media. Hell, one of his best friends taught A/B/O Dynamics to teenagers. He’d heard about the new trend of Alphas and omegas dating betas, but he had to admit he’d always been pretty closed minded about it. Although he supposed it wasn’t any of his business who mated with who as long as they were happy and in a healthy relationship. 

“I’ll ask her if she wants your number,” Louis offered. He didn’t want to set Fizzy up on a date without her consent.

“Sweet,” Luke said, offering his fist for a bump. Louis wasn’t sure if you were supposed to fistbump betas who wanted your little omega sister’s number, but he obliged nonetheless. 

“Anyway,” Louis changed the subject. ”We’re gonna head over to Harry’s really quick for breakfast. You guys want anything?”

Ashton gave him a look much like the one he gave Louis the other day when he went to the bakery, but again seemed to think better of asking why Louis suddenly had a change of heart when it came to Harry.

Luke on the other hand, lacked the subtlety. Luckily, Fizzy was still in the front of the store. 

“Has hell frozen over?” he asked with a chuckle. “Since when do you go to Harry’s?”

“Since a few days ago apparently,” Ashton answered for him. “He brought me back a scone and everything.”

“Huh,” Luke gave Louis the same look Ashton had given him. “Well if you’re going, I’ll take one of those bagel sandwiches with the ham and cheese. Make sure he’s knows it’s for me so he doesn’t poison it.”

“Oh, ha-ha,” Louis rolled his eyes, then took Ashton’s order before retrieving Fizzy from the Adele display and taking her next door with him. 

The bakery was inviting as ever, warm and cozy and smelling delicious- a mixture of all of the baked goodies and Harry’s own scent. Cara’s spicy scent lingered too, but not as strongly.  

Harry looked really pretty, all sparkling eyes and charming dimples as he boxed up a cake for a stressed mother, who had her arms full of shopping bags and a whiny baby who clearly didn’t want to sit in his stroller.

“This place is so cute,” Fizzy said, looking around the shop with a smile on her face. 

Harry looked up from his work briefly, glancing at Fizzy before making eye contact with Louis. He looked surprised to see them, and if Louis wasn’t mistaken, a bit resigned. The anxious feeling in the pit of Louis’ stomach doubled in size. He smiled at Harry, trying to get rid of the tension he felt. Harry smiled back, albeit half-heartedly, before turning his attention to the customer again. 

“Looks like Santa left some things to the last minute?” he said, making it sound like a question. He pointed to the shopping bags with a wink as he placed the cake box in a paper sack and handed it to her.

“You have no idea.” she laughed, taking the sack from him. “Thank you so much. Merry Christmas!”

“No problem,” he smiled and waved as she made to leave the shop. “Happy Holidays!”

Louis held the door open for her on her way out and she thanked him too. Harry quickly helped the next customer in line while Louis and Fizzy tried not to get in the way. Eventually that customer left too, and Louis and Fizzy had Harry to themselves. 

“Hey babe,” Harry said to Louis, whose inner omega did  _ not _ preen at the term of endearment. “Hey Fizzy. What are you guys doing here?”

“I wanted to stop by the record store and then Fizzy wanted to stop by here,” Louis explained. “Ashton wants another scone, by the way. And Luke wants a ham and cheese bagel.”

“Are you asking me or telling me?” Harry teased, but he bent down to retrieve a scone from the case while Louis tried to figure out how he was going to get Harry alone to talk with him. He didn’t know if he was allowed in the back or not, and he didn’t know how to suggest that they go somewhere alone without it being conspicuous, but it was the best he had.

“Hey, baby?” Louis said to get Harry’s attention, tacking on the term of endearment for good measure to avoid any suspicion. He didn’t expect the word to startle Harry so much that he banged his head on the top of the glass case as he jolted in surprise. He’d hit it so hard that a glass cake dish rattled on top of the counter.  

“Fuck,” Harry hissed in pain, rubbing at the back of his head. Great. Louis had given his fake boyfriend a concussion.

“Shit, are you okay?” Fizzy asked, walking towards Harry with concern. 

“I think so,” Harry said. “I’m just gonna get some ice in case it swells.”

He pointed towards the back door and Louis rushed to join him. “Let me help you.”

Louis was behind the counter before Harry could stop him, leaving Fizzy by herself with the pastries. 

The backroom of the bakery was a lot bigger than Louis’ own backroom, which made sense, because Harry had to do a lot more things in his backroom than Louis did, like… bake.

There was a row of ovens and a large stove lined up against the backwall, with a fridge and a sink on the wall perpendicular. An array of mixing bowls and measuring cups were stacked high in the sink, and Louis could hear the dishwasher running. A large workspace with a wooden countertop stood in the middle of the room, which was also decorated with mixing bowls and measuring cups, along with a rolling pin and cookie cutters. Harry’s scent was more concentrated back here in the enclosed space, and Louis’ face felt warm.

“I’m fine,” Harry said, heading towards the refrigerator and yanking open the freezer door. “You didn’t have to come back here to check on me.”

He grabbed an already made ice pack off one of the shelves, which made Louis wonder how often Harry and his employees hurt themselves. He supposed there was always opportunities to accidentally burn yourself when working around all of these heated appliances. 

“Well, I also wanted to talk to you,” Louis explained, then winced at how unconcerned that sounded. “I mean, I want to make sure you’re okay too, but this was a good excuse to get you alone. Are you okay, though?”

Harry wrapped the ice pack in a paper towel and placed it on the back of his head. 

“I’m fine. What did you need to talk to me about?”

“I’m sorry if last night made you uncomfortable,” Louis apologized. “I mean, I think we both came to the conclusion that it was nobody’s fault. So let’s just forget it ever happened?”

Harry furrowed his brows in confusion and didn’t say anything, so Louis pressed on.

“I understand if you don’t want to do this any more, obviously. I really shouldn’t have even asked you in the first place, but I think it’s going pretty well. My sisters really like you and you... aren’t exactly as terrible as I thought.”

Harry snorted. “Gee, thanks.” 

Louis started to protest that he didn’t mean it that way, although he wasn’t really sure which way he  _ had _ meant it, but Harry waved him off. “I don’t know why you’re trying to convince me to keep playing along, since I don’t think I ever gave any indication that I didn’t want to play along anymore.”

“Uh,” Louis stammered. “When you texted me this morning you said you weren’t sure if you were going to see me or not, so I just assumed that-”

“Oh!” Harry exclaimed. “I didn’t mean it like that. I forgot that I signed up for this volunteer thing in the city for tonight a couple weeks back, when I still thought I was going to be alone for Christmas. Sorry, I guess I should have explained, but I didn’t think really think you’d care or read that much into it.”

Well, now Louis felt simultaneously embarrassed and like a shitty person. How had he read Harry so wrong before? Anyone who would volunteer on Christmas Eve was practically a saint. If Louis had been alone on Christmas Eve, he’d probably just mope about watching _Home_ _Alone_ and getting drunk on Egg Nog. 

“Oh,” Louis said, stumped for anything better to say. He and Harry stared at each other in uncomfortable silence for a moment before Louis’ brain started working appropriately again.

“Here, let me look at your head.” 

He walked towards Harry and stood on his toes to get a better look at the back of Harry’s head. Harry removed the ice pack and leaned into Louis so closely their bodies were almost touching, and Louis lifted a hand to gently prod at Harry’s skull. Louis tried to ignore how good Harry smelled when he was so close to his neck. 

“No bump,” Louis said horsely, then tried to cover up his awkwardness with a joke. “In my professional medical opinion, I think you’ll live.”

Harry turned his body slowly so they were face to face and smirked. “Thank you, doctor.”

Louis swallowed and glanced up into Harry’s eyes. Why did he have to be so goddamn attractive, smell so good,  _ and _ turn out to be a good person? He was making it extremely difficult for Louis to stay away from him, let alone continue hating him.

Harry gazed back down into Louis’ eyes and Louis’ heart skipped a beat. He wondered if Harry could hear that with his advanced Alpha senses and wasn’t sure if he wanted him to be able to or not. Louis swallowed thickly, his own senses overwhelmed by Harry’s proximity and intensity, before taking a small step back. Harry made to follow him before he seemed to remember himself and took a step back himself, clearing his throat as he did so.

“Right, Louis said, a bit breathlessly. “I suppose we should go back out there.”

“Right,” Harry agreed, placing a warm hand on the small of Louis’ back to lead them back up to the front.

“You know, you two don’t have to keep disappearing when you want to make out,” Fizzy said once they reappeared. “We all know what you’re doing anyway. You’re not subtle at all.”

Harry turned bright red and tripped over his own feet. Louis was starting to get why the pre-made ice packs were necessary. 

Louis sputtered. “We weren’t making out!”

Fizzy fixed him with a disbelieving look. “Uh huh, sure, you just keep disappearing to back rooms for periods of time and always come back reeking of arousal for no reason.” 

“We were just talking,” Louis said, although he wasn’t sure why he was trying to defend himself to this. 

The fact that Fizzy thought he and Harry apparently couldn’t contain themselves for three days without sneaking off to make out just added to the credibility of their relationship. He just wished she hadn’t said the thing about his arousal. He knew he reeked of arousal, god damnit. He was already embarrassed enough without Fizzy bringing attention to it. 

“Must have been a pretty heated discussion,” Fizzy joked. Louis wondered when his little sister had gotten so comfortable with making brazen remarks about her older brother in front of company.

“We were just talking about how I might not be able to join you all tonight,” Harry said. “I forgot I signed up to volunteer at the soup kitchen this evening.”

“Well, aren’t you just disgustingly perfect,” Fizzy remarked and Harry blushed again. 

Louis had to agree. Harry waved them off, too humble for his own good.

“Let me just finish Luke’s sandwich,” He said, turning to pop a bagel in the toaster. “Did you guys want anything else before you go?"

“Go ahead and throw a couple of bagel sandwiches in there for me and Lottie,” Fizzy said.

“For me too,” Louis said, and Harry nodded, getting to work. 

Another customer came in as Harry was bagging up their food- a very frazzled woman who stated she had a pie emergency that had something to do with a terrible mother-in-law. 

“It’s on the house,” Harry murmured as he handed the food off to Louis and Fizzy before turning his attention to his customer. 

“Well, damn,” Fizzy said as they exited the shop. “If dating a baker means you get free food, sign me up.”

\-----

Louis spent the rest of the day with Fizzy and Lottie, preparing as much food as they could for the next day. They made an early night of it, skyping with the rest of their family before drinking their way through two bottles of wine as they watched  _ A Christmas Carol _ . Harry stopped by to say goodnight when he got back from his volunteer work and Lottie and Fizzy made him sit down next to Louis and watch the second half of the film. 

Harry seemed more tense than he had the night before and Louis was just tipsy enough to think it was a good idea to try and release some of that tension. They were in the same position as last night, so Louis was easily able to rest his elbow on the back of the couch and card his fingers through Harry’s silky hair. When Harry threw him a startled look, Louis even went as far as pressing a kiss to Harry’s temple.

“Relax,” he whispered. “We don’t want a repeat of yesterday.”

He was so close that he could hear Harry swallow. “Then you need to stop touching me like that.”

Louis pulled back slightly to look into Harry’s eyes, and found that his pupils were dilated. He liked that he was affecting Harry just as much as Harry had been affecting him. Unfortunately, he didn’t have an Alpha voice he could use to calm him down. Or work him up.

“Sorry,” he murmured, dropping his hand from Harry’s hair. 

Harry swallowed again. “It’s fine.”

They made it through the whole movie without any more hang ups, and Louis was feeling quite proud of them. Harry stretched as the credits rolled and Louis flicked the light on to find that Lottie and Fizzy were both snoozing in their seats. 

Louis stood up and gestured for Harry to follow him into the kitchen, where he loaded their wine glasses into the dishwasher.

“What time should I head over tomorrow?” Harry asked, leaning against the counter as he watched Louis clean up.

“Whenever is good for you,” Louis said. “We’ll probably sleep in, open presents, and then we won’t be doing much until dinner. I know you said you have that Skype thing with your family, so no rush.”

Louis saw Harry nodding in his peripheral before he grabbed the dishwashing detergent and bent over to pour it into the dishwasher. When he stood back up and turned around, Harry’s gazed flicked up to Louis’ face way too quickly to not have been fixated on his ass the moment before. Louis smirked and cocked his hip to the side, still feeling slightly tipsy and flirtatious. He wanted Harry to invade his space again. He was ready for it this time.

“Well!” Harry said a bit too loudly instead. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.” 

Louis blinked at him and frowned. That wasn’t the reaction he’d been going for. 

“Oh, okay.” He said. “You sure? You could stay for a bit longer if you want.”

“No,” Harry cleared his throat. “I’ve got, uh- stuff to do. Before tomorrow. So I should head up.”

Louis wondered what on earth Harry could have left to do, but he didn’t want to make him stay if he didn’t want to. 

“Okay, I’ll walk you out.”

He led Harry to the front door, where they paused and turned to each other. Louis rocked back and forth on the ball of his feet, feeling like they were teenagers ending an awkward first date. 

“You can kiss goodbye, you know,” Lottie said dryly from the couch. “I think our innocent eyes can take it.”

Fuck, how long had she been awake? Had she noticed how awkward he and Harry had been just a moment ago?

Harry’s eyes widened and he looked at Louis like a deer in the headlights. As convincing as Harry had been about this whole thing yesterday, he had really regressed today. It was like they’d traded places. Louis figured he should take the reigns on his one and rose up on his tiptoes to place a chaste kiss to the corner of Harry’s mouth.

“Have a good night,” he whispered. “Merry Christmas.”

Harry nodded once before fumbling for the doorknob and darting out into the cold.

Louis went to bed that night feeling much better than he had the day before, thinking about how Harry was getting just as flustered around Louis as Louis did around him, and wondering about the implications of that.

 

When it was time for dinner the next day, Harry texted Louis and asked that he come up and help him carry down the dessert. Louis excused himself and Fizzy and Lottie fixed him with knowing looks, although Louis was pretty sure they were wrong about whatever they thought they knew.

Harry answered the door almost as soon as Louis knocked on it, and ushered Louis inside out of the cold.

“So I may have gone overboard with the pie,” he said, placing his hands on his hips and turning towards the kitchen, where four different pies sat on the counter. 

“We’re gonna get sick,” Louis said, walking towards the pies in awe. “But I’m sure it’ll be worth it.”

Harry blushed. “Thanks. Two of them were left over from the bakery yesterday, but don’t tell anyone.”

Louis laughed. “Your secret is safe with me.”

“Here,” Harry slid one of the pies over to Louis. “You grab two and I’ll grab two.”

He distractedly pushed the other one towards Louis too, but he pushed it a bit too hard, and the pie teetered over the edge of the counter before crashing down at Louis’ feet. 

“What was-” Harry spun around at the sound and tripped, falling down to join the pie on the ground. Louis almost started laughing at the drama of it all, but then Harry sighed, looking so defeated that Louis wanted to give him a hug instead. 

“Hey,” Louis said, kicking his shoes off and joining him on the floor to try to cheer him him. “We’ve still got three more pies.”

“I’m so sorry about your shoes,” Harry groaned, hiding his face in his hands.

“At least it wasn’t vomit, this time,” Louis said with a shrug. “Or my favorite pair.”

Harry laughed, but somehow still managed to sound upset. “I really have a knack for making a fool of myself around you, don't I?” 

He looked so adorably uncomfortable and awkward, so unlike the smug, confident Alpha Louis had first met, that Louis did the only thing he could think of to ease his embarrassment. He leaned forward and kissed him. Just a peck that somehow still cause Harry to make an alarmed noise in the back of his throat and blink at Louis when he pulled back. Louis looked up at him from beneath his eyelashes, not necessarily feeling as coy as he was pretending to be, but it did the trick. Harry’s mouth was back on his in a second- hot and wet and just a little bit rough. Of course his kisses would be as all-consuming as the rest of him.

Louis lifted himself up and straddled Harry’s lap for easier access to his mouth. He tasted just as fresh and lovely as his scent, which was surrounding Louis in the absolute best way. Harry made a slightly wounded noise as their tongues tangled together and Louis couldn’t help but agree. He felt like the air had been knocked out of him, his heart thudding against his chest almost painfully and his cock already hard as rock. One quick thrust of his hips told him that Harry wasn’t far behind him. 

A voice in the back of Louis’ head told him he needed to stop this before it get too far, but that voice could, quite frankly, go fuck itself. Eventually, they both pulled back for air.

“That… was unexpected,” Harry said once he caught his breath, head falling back to rest against the cabinets. His hands latched onto Louis’ hips as if he was using Louis to ground himself.

“Was it really?” Louis giggled, resting his forehead on Harry’s shoulder. “We’ve been tip toeing around each other for the past two days.”

“I guess you’re right,” Harry said, shifting slightly beneath Louis’ weight. “This whole week has been unexpected though, to be honest.” 

Louis pulled back a bit. “I know. I’m sure this isn’t how you wanted to spend your holiday.”

“It’s not that,” Harry assured him, eyes tracking the movement of Louis’ tongue as he licked at his lips, trying to taste Harry again already.

“Your sisters are great,” Harry continued. “And I’m glad I’m not spending the holiday alone. I just-” He shook his head slightly and his shoulders sagged. “You’ve always hated me.”

“I haven’t  _ hated _ you,” Louis tried to deny, but Harry just looked at him and raised one eyebrow. “Alright, so I kind of hated you.”

“I don’t really blame you,” Harry admitted, tightening his grip on Louis’ hips. “I was a dickhead the first time we met. I didn’t expect to run into a gorgeous, spunky little omega when I stopped by your store that first day. You caught me off guard and I’d just had my rut so the obnoxious Alpha part of me was a little closer to the surface than normal. In some twisted way, I was trying to impress you. Which isn’t a good excuse, but it’s the only one I have.”

The fact that Harry had just been coming off of a rut that day actually made a lot of sense. Louis didn’t want to think about it too much though, because thinking of Harry coming off of a rut made him think of Harry in rut, which made him think that he’d like to help Harry out with his next one. And if he’d last had his rut about six months ago, that meant he was due for another one very soon. Louis didn’t know what to do with that information aside from use it for some nice masturbation material later. 

“It’s okay,” Louis said, running a gentle hand down Harry’s chest. “You’ve proven to me this week that you aren’t that bad after all. In fact…” He leaned in like he was about to reveal a big secret. “I think I’m kind of starting to like you.”

As far as confessions of feelings went, it wasn’t the most romantic, but Harry seemed to think otherwise.

“Yeah?” He smiled and tilted his head like an adorably flustered puppy. 

“Yeah,” Louis said, leaning in to kiss him again. 

It was a short, sweet kiss this time, but it still made Louis mourn the past six months when he could have been kissing Harry Styles and wasn’t.

“I like you, too,” Harry said when they pulled apart. “I’ve had a crush on you since pretty much that first day.”

After the past couple of days, Louis wasn’t all that surprised by the admission, but his heart still felt like it was swelling up in his chest. Liam’s advice to just go for it rang in his ears.

“What are you doing for New Year’s Eve?” He asked, running his hand back up Harry’s chest and into the hair at the nape of his neck.

“Nothing really,” Harry winced, rubbing at the back of his head, his hand brushing Louis’. Louis briefly wondered if his head was still tender from the day before. “Think I’ll just spend the night in, you know. Maybe watch the ball drop on TV.”

“My sisters will be gone by then,” Louis said. “And Niall’s having that party at the bar. We should go together.”

Niall and Liam were going to have a field day full of I told you so’s, but Louis couldn’t be bothered to care too much about that right now. He’d worry about them when the time came. 

“My, uh-” Harry cut off and inhaled deeply. “I really want to, but I can’t. My rut is actually due to start on New Year’s Day, so I’m playing it safe and staying home the night before.” 

Fuck. That was even sooner than Louis thought and he felt bad for Harry. Having your rut on a holiday had to suck.

“Do you have-” Louis swallowed. “Does someone help you with that?”

Why the hell had he just asked that?  It was none of his business, and it wasn't like he was seriously- 

“Are you offering?” Harry asked, somehow managing to sound both flirty and nervous.

Louis cleared his throat. “I mean, uh... you did help me out this week, so if you needed help-”

“Louis,” Harry cut him off. “I was joking.” 

“Oh,” Louis shifted on Harry’s lap, and then he felt the hard line of Harry’s cock and his mind was made up. “Of course. Right. Well I know how terrible it is to spend heats alone, and I'm sure it's the same for you. So if you like,  _ did _ want some… company. I would be available.” 

“You want to spend my rut with me?” Harry asked, voice a bit breathless, like he couldn’t believe Louis was actually offering that.    
Louis confirmed with a nod. “I do.” 


	4. Chapter 4

Lottie and Fizzy left two days after Christmas with well wishes and promises to lay off the meddling and nagging. Louis felt guilty for lying to them, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but be grateful that he did. If he hadn’t spun the web about Harry, the last few days wouldn’t have happened, and Louis would have gone on continuing to stubbornly dislike him. Maybe Louis would tell his family the truth eventually, but he had more pressing issues to worry about now, like the rut he had now agreed to help Harry with and the return of Niall and Liam.

The latter happened first. Niall stopped by the record store to announce his return on the twenty-eighth, just as Harry was also stopping by with tea and a bag of treats for Louis. Louis was starting to notice that this was going to be a trend. Alphas were known for wooing their prospective mates with food and gifts, but Louis really needed Harry to stop before he gained twenty pounds. 

“Hey Harry,” Niall said suspiciously when he noticed Harry walking into the shop behind him. “What are you- oh,” he lowered his voice significantly. “Are Louis’ sisters still in town?”

He promptly looked around the store in search for Lottie and Fizzy, while Harry smiled at Louis and Louis pretended he wasn’t blushing at the new found special attention.

“They left yesterday,” Louis informed Niall. “How was your Christmas?”

“Oh, it was great,” Niall said, turning his attention back to Louis and Harry now that he wasn’t looking for his sisters. “My nephew’s getting so big- love getting to spoil him. I trust you two had a smooth run here?”

“Yep,” Louis said, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. “My sisters bought it.”

“You told Niall?” Harry asked, walking over to him and setting the bag of goodies on the counter next to the register

Louis nodded and rubbed his hands together. “It was Niall’s idea, actually. I asked Liam to pretend to date me first, but he refused so I asked you instead.” He winced as soon as the words left his mouth. Maybe he shouldn’t have let Harry know that Harry was… literally his last resort. Harry didn’t look upset though, just nodded in understanding.

“Yeah,” Niall laughed. “Liam had plans with Zayn.” He made air quotes around Zayn’s name and Harry chuckled. “Not that he would have agreed anyway.”

Louis begged to differ. He would have worn Liam down eventually.

“Wait,” he said, pointing between Harry and Niall. “Does that mean you guys don’t believe Zayn exists either?”

Niall and Harry both burst out laughing, Niall’s face turning red and Harry’s nose scrunching up adorably. 

Now that Louis was giving Harry a second chance, he found that he thought pretty much everything about Harry was adorable, especially the things he once found annoying. The loud printed shirts that once gave Louis headaches and made him question everything about Harry’s life choices now looked like pinnacles of fashion. The stupid puns and jokes that seemed to litter Harry’s life and Louis used to roll his eyes at were now endearing and funny. The way Harry’s hair started sticking up in every which direction when Harry ran his hands through it too much now made Louis smile, when he used to bitterly wonder why Harry didn’t seem to own a comb. 

Basically everything about Harry was a huge problem, just like it had always been, but now it was an entirely different problem than it used to be.

“No fucking way,” Niall said after he and Harry stopped laughing and caught their breath. “Liam’s supposedly been dating the guy for years and we’ve never met him.”

“Liam showed me a picture of him one time,” Harry added with a shrug. “But I’m pretty sure it was just a selfie he stole off of some random model’s instagram account.”

“Pathetic,” Louis muttered. “What’s his deal?”

“Maybe we should set him up with someone!” Harry suggested, face lighting up in excitement. “Does he prefer men or is he flexible, because Cara mentioned a friend of hers who-”

“No,” Louis interrupted. “We aren’t setting him up with anyone. That’s how people end up with fake boyfriends in the first place.”

“Worked out okay for us, didn’t it?” Harry asked. He winked at Louis, but still looked anxious for affirmation, like he still wasn’t positive Louis was actually giving him a second chance.

Louis smiled at him. “I’d say so, yeah.”

Niall looked back and forth between the two of them for a moment, and then his face broke out into a shit eating grin. “Holy shit.”

“What?” Louis snapped, knowing an I-told-you-so was coming and wanting to do everything possible to avoid it. He expected an I-told-you-so from Niall would be less annoying than one from Liam, though. Liam would never let this go. Niall would probably be over it in an hour.

“Nothing.” Niall held his hands up in surrender. Then he changed the subject. “You’re both coming to the New Year’s Eve party at the bar, right?” 

“Can’t,” Harry said apologetically. “My rut starts the next day.”

Niall made a noise of understanding. “Tough luck, mate.” He turned to Louis. “What about you?”

“Uh,” Louis stammered, unsure what to say. He and Harry hadn’t talked about what all to tell their friends yet. 

“I might stop by for a little bit,” he said. “Not sure yet.”

Niall eyed him in confusion. Louis couldn’t blame him. He didn’t usually pass up a good party, especially not one that he knew Harry wouldn’t be attending.

“Suit yourself, mate,” Niall said after a moment with an all-too-nonchalant shrug. “It’s going to be great craic.”

Niall always came back from time with family sounding especially Irish.

“I don’t know what the hell that means,” Louis said, earning a chuckle from Harry that made him smile. 

“Well, I need to head back,” Harry said, gesturing towards the direction of the bakery with his thumb. “But I’ll see you guys later.”

Louis and Niall both waved as he left the store and Louis picked up the pricing gun he’d been using on a stack of used records before he was interrupted. Niall rounded on him as soon as the door swung closed behind Harry.

“YOU HAD SEX WITH HARRY!” he shouted, pointing at Louis in accusation.

Damn. Clearly, Louis and Harry were the least subtle people on the planet. Less than ten minutes with the pair of them and Niall already knew something was different.

“I did not have sex with Harry,” Louis scoffed, smacking a price sticker onto the record he was holding. “I’m  _ going _ to have sex with Harry. There’s a difference.”

“I get to be your best man at the wedding,” Niall said, ignoring Louis’ comment completely. Louis didn’t realize having sex with someone meant you were getting married, but he humored Niall by teasing him, rather than arguing that it was probably a bit too early to be talking about weddings. Despite his crush, Louis still barely knew anything about Harry. 

“Liam’s going to be the best man at the wedding,”

“It was my idea to ask Harry to do this in the first place!” Niall exclaimed, but he calmed down after seeing the look on Louis face--half teasing and half introspective. “I was right though, wasn’t I? He’s a great guy once you get to know him, and you  _ really _ want to know him, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Louis agreed with a sigh. “I’m only going to say this once, so savor this moment, but you were right.”

Niall beamed.

“And you can never tell Liam I said that,” Louis quickly added.

“Oh, I’m definitely telling him you said that,” Niall said, still smiling in an obnoxious know-it-all way. “He just lost a bet and owes me fifty bucks.”

What the hell was it with the people in Louis’ life betting on him? First his sisters, now his best friends. Clearly, he was just a big game piece to all of them. 

Louis narrowed his eyes. “You bet on if Harry and I would get together?” 

“Not if,” Niall corrected cheerfully. “When. I called Liam after talking to you on the phone the other day and we knew you were finally getting with the picture, and Harry’s always had it bad. I thought it would happen on or by New Year’s, but Liam didn’t think you’d get it together until afterwards.”

Louis blinked. “You knew Harry liked me?”

“Mate,” Niall snorted. “Everyone knows.”

Harry told Louis he’d had a crush on him since the beginning, but it was still strange hearing Niall talk about it. Louis hadn’t realized Harry’s feelings for him were common knowledge, and knowing he’d been going around talking about what a pain in the ass Harry was while everyone knew Harry liked him, made him feel a bit shit. He felt mean and also uncomfortable that everyone had humored him for so long, although he supposed multiple people had tried to tell him that Harry was a nice guy. Louis just hadn’t wanted to listen.

“Anyway,” Niall drummed his hands on the counter before stepping away. “I just stopped by to say hi and pick up a new capo on my way to the bar. Liam said he’d stop by later if you want to hang out.”

He talked as he walked through the store to the aisle with the musical equipment. Louis half listened as he priced his records, deep in thought about Harry, and told Niall he’d meet up with him and Liam later when he left the shop.

\-----

Louis and Harry made plans for Louis to come over on New Year’s Eve, to spend Harry’s pre-rut with him and ensure he’d be there when it started. 

When the time came, Louis packed carelessly. In his experience, he’d come to realize that you really only needed to take a pair of extra underwear when helping an Alpha out with their rut. If that; the Alphas Louis had been with weren’t too keen on letting him get dressed between sex, and until they exhausted themselves, breaks were few and far between. So Louis did the bare minimum, stuffing a pair of underwear, some sweatpants, and a t-shirt into a backpack, as well as an extra tube of lube and his toothbrush, and called it a day. 

He checked the clock on his bedstand and saw he still had about half an hour to spare before he was supposed to be at Harry’s, so he ordered a pizza and gave himself a pep talk while he waited for the delivery. He could do this; he’d helped Alphas through their ruts before. Sure, it had been a couple of years, and sure they had been boyfriends at the time, rather than enemies recently turned friends, but this time wouldn’t be all that different. Harry was only the best smelling, most all-consuming Alpha Louis had ever been around, but everything was going to be fine. Despite his nerves, Louis was really looking forward to putting his new fantasies about Harry to the test.

His pizza was delivered by a senior in one of his classes, one of only a handful of his students who had raw natural talent and passion, who did things that couldn't be taught. Louis knew he wasn't supposed to have favorites, but sometimes he couldn't help it. He had a small chat with her before she announced she had another pizza to deliver waiting in the car.

"See you in class next week, Mr. Tomlinson," she said with a smile. "And have a Happy New Year!"

Louis waved goodbye and smiled back. "You too."

He checked the time again and grabbed the bags he was taking to Harry's, deciding to head up a few minutes early.

Louis kicked on Harry’s front door instead of knocking, his hands full of a pizza box and a grocery sack full of food that would be easily preparable over the next few days. 

Harry answered the door with a smile, and the intensity of his scent pre-rut almost knocked Louis off his feet. Forget waiting until the rut actually started, Louis nearly dropped down to his knees to take Harry deep into his throat right there in the doorway.

“Hey,” Harry greeted, stepping aside so Louis could enter the apartment. 

He flipped the lock behind him and Louis turned to face the living room, where the Ryan Seacrest New Year’s Eve special was playing on the TV. Something about watching the ball drop together felt so domestic, and Louis was sure they’d skipped about twenty relationship steps, but he supposed their relationship hadn’t started very conventionally either.  _ Were they even in a relationship? Were they headed that way? _ Louis had no idea what was going on.

“Whatcha got there?” Harry asked, pointing to the grocery sack.

“Fuel,” Louis replied, and began unloading the sack onto the counter to reveal an assortment of granola bars, fruit, bottled waters, boxed mac and cheese, and a variety of small frozen microwavable dinners. The food was mostly for himself during breaks when Harry was sleeping, but he’d try to get Harry to eat as much as possible too if he’d cooperate while rut drunk. Louis wasn’t too optimistic about that.

“You’ve done this before, I’m assuming,” Harry said, picking up one of the frozen dinners and reading the back. 

“Helped an Alpha through their rut?” Louis clarified.

“Yeah,” Harry nodded. “I assume that’s something you’ve done or else you probably wouldn’t have offered to help me. Plus, you seem to know what you’re doing.” He held up a frozen chicken pot pie and waved it slightly to emphasize his point.

Louis swallowed, hoping Harry wasn’t already feeling territorial. From what omegas were always taught, it wasn’t usually wise to talk to Alphas about your experiences with other Alphas, especially not during rut. He answered honestly anyway.

“You assume correctly.” Harry only responded with a nod.

Louis had helped two other Alphas through their respective ruts, both on multiple occasions. What he knew from those experiences, and from sharing stories with other omegas, was that all Alphas had their similarities and their differences when in rut. Possessiveness was a given, as was the constant need for sex. Most Alphas were aggressive, but not all of them, and the typical rut lasted about three days, sometimes more and sometimes less. The first two days were typically the most intense, and the last day was spent resting and rejuvenating. The last day was also usually the day Alphas were the most possessive, with a near constant need for affection from their omega. 

“Everyone’s a little bit different though,” Louis continued as he loaded his food into Harry’s freezer. “So is there anything I should know about you?”

“I get really insecure when I'm in rut,” Harry said, blushing like he was embarrassed. “Because I always feel... out of control, I guess. Like I'm forcing myself onto the omega I’m with, or that they're not as into it as I am. So reassuring words and some guidance are always nice.” 

Louis knew all about feeling out of control, and kind words and reassurance were also what he needed during heat, so he nodded in understanding and stored that information for when it would be needed.

“I’m more coherent the first day than the second,” Harry continued. “Although not by much. And I’m really exhausted on the first half of day three and then clingy for the rest. I’m probably pretty standard.”

Harry's rut did sound pretty standard, with the exception of asking for reassurance and guidance. He just tacked that detail onto the list of things he liked about Harry. Louis liked feeling taken care of and controlled in bed as much as the next omega when he was in heat, but he liked taking the reigns occasionally when he wasn't. A chill ran through him thinking that he might be able to have that with Harry.

He clasped his hands together behind his back and tilted his head. "So what do you want to do until it starts?"

Harry shrugged. "I wasn't doing much before you came over. You can eat your pizza if you want, and then I'd like to scent you a little bit, if you don't mind? To put my inner Alpha at ease." 

Louis shook his head. He didn't mind and he’d anticipated that being one of Harry’s needs.

"And then," Harry cocked his hip and Louis knew a flirty comment was coming. "We can just chill, watch TV, make out, whatever you want to do..."

Louis smirked. "You sure know how to woo a man, Styles."

Harry grinned, a dimple poking into his cheek. "I try."

Louis nearly suggested they skip straight to making out, but his stomach growled and he knew it would be best to eat first. Harry offered him a plate and Louis offered him a slice of pizza which he politely declined. He watched while Louis ate instead, and Louis tried not to feel self conscious and he ate as carefully as he could.

"New Year’s not a busy time at the bakery, then?" Louis asked after a moment, wondering if Harry was having his rut at an inconvenient time.

  
"Nope," Harry shook his head. "We'll be pretty dead for a while; might get a small surge around Valentine's Day, but my busy time of year is over."

They made small talk until Louis finished eating, and then Harry led him to his couch, where he crowded into Louis' space as soon as they sat down, Louis next to the arm and Harry next to him. Louis' heart hammered in his chest when Harry cupped the back of his neck and rubbed the skin with his thumb. Calm flooded Louis' body and he relaxed into Harry's side, their bodies molding together.

"You smell so good with my scent on you," Harry whispered, and a rush of something more dangerous flooded Louis' body. "You smell good all the time, but when my scent is on you I can't think."

"I can't think with your scent on me either," Louis murmured back, flashing back to when Harry scent marked him that first night and how Louis couldn't help jacking off to the memory later.

Harry used the hand on Louis' neck to turn his head gently towards him. Louis took a deep breath, as if he could gulp in more of Harry's scent, and looked up to meet his eyes. He got a glimpse of fire in Harry's eyes before he closed his own and leaned in to press their lips together. Harry responded enthusiastically, tangling their tongues together on a moan as he ran his hand from Louis' neck down his chest to rest on his hip.

He pressed more and more into Louis, until Louis found himself scooting down the couch to lay on his back with Harry looming over him. He wrapped his legs around Harry's hips and cupped Harry's face in his hands. They kissed and kissed until Louis' lungs started to protest, and still Louis was hesitant to let Harry go.

"I’ve thought about this,” Harry said on a ragged breath when Louis finally released him.

“You have?” Louis croaked.

Harry hummed and kissed down Louis' neck. “So many times. You have no idea what you do to me, do you? You actually have no idea. I've thought about everything with you.”

He pulled back for a moment to look at Louis and for a weighted moment, Louis felt like anything was possible.

“Show me what you’ve thought about,” he whispered, reaching up to run a hand through Harry’s soft, silken hair.

Harry grinned, that god awful flirtatious grin that made Louis' stomach clench in anticipation. He tugged at the hem of Louis' shirt.

"Need to get rid of this then," he said, then dipped his fingers into the waistband of Louis' sweat pants. "And these."

Louis lifted his hips wordlessly and Harry tugged his pants and underwear down and off while Louis got rid of his shirt. Normally, Louis would have felt self-conscious being so exposed, but Harry was running his eyes up and down Louis' body so appreciatively, so  _ greedily _ , that any burgeoning tension was instantly soothed. He'd never felt someone’s eyes on him quite like this. There was something about being laid bare so completely while Harry remained fully clothed that made him feel hot all over.

Harry glanced up at him once more in question as he began to kiss down Louis' stomach, and Louis nodded his permission. He thought he knew where Harry was going, but then Harry's mouth skipped over his cock without as much as a passing breath. Instead, he ran his tongue up Louis’ thighs, already wetting with slick, and made a noise somewhere between a whine and a moan deep in the back of his throat.

“Always knew you’d get so nice and wet,” Harry murmured, running a teasing finger over Louis' crack without pushing inside. “Can’t believe this is for me.”

"You gonna do something about it?" Louis asked, the need for something inside him starting to seem like the most important thing in the world.

Harry shook his head. "Later."

Louis' protest got lost in the back of his throat when Harry proceeded to lick up his shaft and swallow him down to the root.

"Holy shit," he breathed and Harry hummed back. Louis' hands found their way back into Harry's hair and his grip tightened each time Harry did something especially talented with his tongue. Fortunately Harry didn't seem to mind. He sucked hard and fast, until Louis started panting as he got closer and closer to orgasm, and then Harry pulled off to lick delicately at his head.

"You bastard," Louis said and Harry laughed. Louis couldn't quite believe he was having sex with Harry Styles, and they were laughing.

"Need to catch my breath," Harry said innocently and Louis pushed his head away gently.

"You bastard," he repeated, and then deciding he'd had enough of the teasing, he wrapped his legs around Harry's and flipped their bodies so that he was on top.

“What have you thought about me doing to you?” he asked and Harry let out a shuddery breath. 

“Whatever you want to do to me.”

"Need to get rid of these then," Louis said, echoing Harry’s words from earlier as he reached for the button of his jeans

Harry quickly complied, pushing his jeans down and kicking them off. Louis looked down at his cock, long and hard against his stomach and shifted his hips against Harry's on instinct. Harry shifted back, and they started to thrust against each other, both chasing the friction needed for release.

They’d be going at it for the next three or four days. Louis knew he should really try to conserve his energy, but he couldn’t help but be selfish this once. He needed it, and he doubted Harry would be entirely coherent for much longer. His scent was already growing thicker in the room, a sign that his rut wasn't far off, and Louis could sense the growing desperation in his actions. 

"I'm gonna come," Louis warned him after a moment, bracing himself with his hands against Harry's chest, shifting his hips faster and faster.

Harry nodded and wrapped a hand around both of their cocks. "I won't be far behind you."

Louis came on a soft cry four thrusts later, spilling over onto Harry's stomach and into his hand. Harry squeezed his eyes shut and bit his lip, coming with his own cry a few thrusts after that. Louis leaned down to kiss him breathlessly and Harry licked lazily into his mouth. He ran his spunk soaked hand over Louis' stomach.

"You smell so good with my scent on you."

Louis smiled and Harry rolled off of him and stood up. “Be right back.”

Louis nodded and watched Harry round the corner towards his bedroom. He could faintly hear cabinets being opened and closed and water running from the bathroom, and then Harry returned with a damp flannel to wipe Louis off.

“I’d offer you the shower,” he said as he ran the cool rag over the skin of Louis’ stomach. “But I’ll feel calmer tomorrow when you smell like me.”

“That’s okay,” Louis said, patting Harry’s arm when he finished cleaning him. His omega enjoyed being taken care of and Louis yawned, feeling content and sleepy. He turned to glance at the TV, noting from the count down in the corner that there was still most of an hour left until midnight. He was sure he’d fall asleep before midnight rolled around.

Harry seemed to follow Louis’ train of thought. “I know it’s not midnight yet, but I could easily fall asleep right now.” 

“I’ve brought in the New Year before,” Louis said with a shrug. “We should probably both get some sleep while we can.”

Harry nodded and helped Louis up. Louis wrapped himself up in the blanket that was thrown over the back of the couch and watched as Harry made sure the door was locked and turned everything off, then he followed him to the bedroom where he imagined they’d be spending the next two days. 

He noted that Harry had thoroughly prepared for his rut. A clean set of sheets was folded on the foot of the bed, and a small pack of water bottles sat next to his bedside table accompanied by his own box of granola bars. On the bedside table were an assortment of lubes and a flesh light. 

Harry noticed where Louis’ attention was and touched his arm gently.

“Thanks again for helping me out,” he said. “It’s been awhile since I’ve had someone to spend my rut with.”

“Of course,” Louis replied, yawning and wondering which side of the bed he was supposed to sleep on. He decided it was probably the side without the lube and tucked himself in. Harry left to do something else in the bathroom and Louis waited until he finished and slid into bed beside him to close his eyes.

“Wish I would have gotten to kiss you at midnight,” Harry mumbled sleepily, flicking off his bedside table lamp. “Although I guess having you in my bed is a nice alternative.”

“The better alternative some would probably say,” Louis replied as he snuggled down deeper under the covers. He fell asleep before Harry could respond.   
  


Louis woke up with an erection pressed to his ass and harsh breathing in his ear. It was still dark outside, and Louis wondered how much sleep he’d gotten, thinking it didn’t feel like much. Harry made a noise somewhere between a whine and a growl in the back of his throat and Louis reached over him to turn the lamp on. The clock on the bedside table read 4:42 a.m. It was going to be a long day.

His eyes protested to the sudden bright light and he squinted down at Harry, who was still sleeping, but was clearly having an intense dream, his hips thrusting against Louis’ side and his chest red and blotchy. Louis wondered if he should go ahead and wake him or wait for Harry to wake up himself. If he was in heat dreaming he’d want his partner to wake him up and put him out of his misery, but he was also uncertain if Harry’s rut had fully started, or if he was just close. His decision was made for him though, when Harry let out another whine, this was sounding more desperate.

“Harry,” Louis whispered, prodding gently at his side. “Harry, wake up.”

Harry shifted some more and Louis squeezed at his shoulder to let him know he was there as he left his dream. Harry blinked dazedly a few times, scented the air, and purred. Louis’ heart skipped a beat and his cock and ass both took notice of the hot and ready Alpha in the room.

He waited with bated breath for Harry to make the first move, and was not disappointed seconds later when Harry was finally fully awake and tugged Louis down on top of him. Louis lay across him for all of ten seconds before Harry slid out from underneath him and pressed Louis into the mattress. A wave of anticipation splashed through him as Harry pinned his arms above his head and bit at his shoulder.

“Mmm,” he purred again. “So pretty.” He ran his hands down Louis’ back and down to his ass, where he pulled his cheeks apart. “Gonna fill you up so nice and pretty. You won’t ever be empty.”

“Are you gonna get to it or just talk about it?” Louis asked, lifting his hips up to press back against Harry impatiently. 

Harry’s breath ghosted over his shoulders as he ran the length of his cock up and down between Louis’ ass cheeks while Louis wondered how on earth he still managed to be lucid enough to tease. He pushed one of Louis’ legs up and slid one of his fingers into his slick, wet hole. 

“I know I’m wet, but I’ll probably still need a bit of lube to take you the first time,” Louis informed him. Harry was  _ big  _ and his knot would be huge. Louis would have no problem taking all of him if he was in heat; he’d be too desperate to care about the stretching and pain, but he’d need a bit of preparation right now.

“Yeah,” Harry said, and his hand shot out to grab one of the bottles of lube from his night stand. Louis heard him flick the lid open and the small squelching noise as he pushed his cheeks apart again and drizzled the lube right onto his hole. 

Louis hissed, the lube cold on his skin, but two of Harry’s warm fingers pressed into him a moment later and Louis’ hiss turned into a sigh.

“You like that?” Harry asked, and Louis normally would have considered that to be a rhetorical question, but then he remembered Harry’s words about needing reassurance.

“So good,” Louis assured him and Harry pulled his hand away to flip Louis over so he was lying on his back, staring up at Harry, who’s intense gaze was focused on Louis’ ass. His fingers returned and he pushed inside, scissoring his fingers and working Louis open.

“I’m ready,” Louis told him after a few more moments of Harry’s fingers moving in and out of him. 

Harry nodded and pulled his fingers out of Louis. He wordlessly lubed up his cock and glanced into Louis’ eyes once before guiding himself inside. He thrust in and out a few times and took a deep breath as thought he was trying to steady himself. Louis lifted up to kiss him.

“Mine,” Harry growled against his mouth, biting at Louis’ bottom lip. “You're mine, right? Say you're mine. Please say you're-”

“I'm yours,” Louis interrupted Harry’s babbling with a kiss and a squeeze at his hips. “I’m yours, baby.” 

He knew Harry was just rut drunk, but his omega preened at the claiming words and at Harry’s reaction. He sobbed in something like relief and kissed his way up Louis’ neck, scraping his teeth over Louis’ pulse point before ramming his hips into him harder. Louis moaned in response and scratched his nails down Harry’s back, clutching him closer.

“Yeah,” Harry murmured in appreciation. “Let me hear you.”

He thrusted in hard again and then just stayed there, rotating his hips in circles and tormenting Louis’ prostate relentlessly. 

“Fuck,” Louis groaned, rocking his hips back against Harry’s, simultaneously trying to squirm away and get closer to him. Harry took hold of his hips to keep him still, fingers digging so deeply into his skin that Louis was sure to have bruises tomorrow.

“Mine,” Harry said again, this time with more confidence, and Louis watched as he lost himself. His hips started snapping in and out of Louis’ ruthlessly. Louis clenched around him, wanting to keep him inside for longer, just the two of them with nothing between them, but Harry was so lost in the moment that he didn’t seem to notice. He changed the angle of his hips slightly and suddenly every thrust hit Louis’ prostate head on, again and again.

Louis could tell he was getting close when his movements became more erratic and his growls became more frequent. The base of Harry’s cock started to swell, pushing and tugging against Louis’ rim with every thrust. This was always the part that was a bit painful, and Louis squinted his eyes and bit at his lip as he forced himself to take all of it. Miraculously, Harry somehow realized his discomfort through his own rut drunk lense, and slowed his movements slightly, running his hands up and down Louis’ sides soothingly.

“You’re taking me so well,” he said, letting Alpha bleed into his voice. “Almost there.”

Louis whimpered as Harry’s voice washed over him, thinking he would happily take three of his knots if Harry asked in that tone. He felt sweat beading on his forehead as Harry’s knot, fully expanded, finally locked in place and Harry let out a long, loud moan. Louis clenched around him and Harry let out a full body shudder. He was beautiful, eyes closed and head thrown back as he lost himself in Louis.

He watched for a few moments until Harry dropped his head back down and reached for Louis’ cock, while his own continued to pump a stream of come into him. Louis grabbed the bottle of lube and Harry held his hand out for some briefly before returning to Louis’ cock and squeezing around him warm and tight, working him to his own orgasm.

It didn’t take much and Louis’ back arched when he came. Harry didn’t stop his hand movements until Louis twisted away, the feel of Harry’s hand on his spent cock and his knot still pushing into him all too much. 

Louis laid there and enjoyed the afterglow, squeezing around Harry’s knot every so often and earning himself appreciative grunts in return. Harry seemed content to mouth and lick at Louis’ neck until his knot went down, which would have been gross if Louis could stop thinking about how easily Harry could mate mark him if he lost control and bit down just a bit too hard. 

“C’mere,” Louis said and lifted Harry’s face up to kiss him. They kissed and kissed, until their lips were chapped and sore, and finally, Harry’s knot began to deflate. He pulled out slowly and Louis whined as it dragged against his rim.

“God,” Harry panted as he collapsed next to Louis onto his back. He kept one hand on Louis’ stomach, stroking possessively over his skin. Louis shifted onto his side to look at Harry and Harry took the opportunity to slide his hand back down to Louis ass, where he cupped and squeezed before slipping one of his fingers back into his hole, which was sore and stretched and leaking. Louis struggled not to pull away from his intruding touch, knowing that would probably upset Harry in his current state.

They laid there in silence as they both caught their breath, and before he knew it, Louis was curling into Harry again falling back asleep, Harry’s fingers still nestled in his ass.

They fucked for two days straight, Harry knotting Louis on the bed, on the couch, on his hands and knees on the floor, and once with his back pressed up against the shower wall. Louis loved every bit of it. He’d fall asleep occasionally in Harry’s arms, with a knot still snug inside him, and wake up later when Harry started to get desperate again. 

Louis woke up from an afternoon nap on the third day to Harry combing his fingers through his hair. He started to part his legs on instinct, but Harry shook his head. 

“It’s nearly over,” he said, voice extra deep and scratchy. “Just need you to hang around for a little while if you can.”

“Cool,” Louis nodded and closed his eyes again, enjoying the feeling of Harry’s nimble fingers gently working out the tangles in his hair. Harry’s fingers were probably filthy and his hair was probably disgusting, but the sentiment was nice and it felt good.

Louis stretched his sore muscles and was struck with the simultaneously terrifying and giddy thought that he never wanted to spend a rut with an Alpha other than Harry ever again. He’d lost his mind a few times during it, just like any Alpha would, but Louis realized that he’d never felt unsafe or like he was just there as a hole for Harry to dump his come into. 

There were times during the rut when Louis wondered if he’d start to get tired of him, but he never did. His body became sensitive, sure, but he never grew overwhelmed by Harry’s presence. At least, not in a bad way. 

Harry had spoken all kinds of nonsense over the past two days, about how Louis was the most beautiful person he’d ever seen, how he made Harry insane, about how sometimes all he could think about was touching him. His honesty had shocked Louis at first, and he chalked all of the confessions up to rut drunk babbling, but deep down he knew there was substance to the words and he thought now that maybe he was starting to understand where Harry was coming from. 

Louis wanted to take his time figuring Harry out. There was still so much to learn about him, but he knew that something about them felt right.

“What are you thinking about?” Harry asked.

Louis opened his eyes to look at him. “You.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter was a little late! i had to play catch up on a lot of things after the thanksgiving holidays, but thanks to everyone again for reading :)
> 
> we've just got the epilogue left!


	5. Chapter 5

**Epilogue: A Year Later**

“Harder!”

Harry lifted his head from where he was panting against Louis’ shoulder to look him in the eyes. His pupils were blown and his lids were heavy as he lost himself.

“Harry,” Louis gasped, wrapping his arms around him to squeeze at his ass. “Harder.”

Harry rolled his eyes, but obliged, pulling out and ramming back into Louis with more force. How he ended up falling into bed with the most demanding omega in the world, he’d never know, but here he was.

“Yes,” Louis hissed, when Harry finally found the pace he’d been begging for. “Just like that, babe, yeah.”

Harry kept up the rhythm Louis wanted, frenzied and hungry, and his knot started to swell at the base of his dick.

“Love your cock,” Louis slurred, his face flushed as his eyes rolled back into his head. He looked completely out of it, and fuck if he wasn’t the sexiest, most beautiful thing Harry had ever seen.

“Fuck.” Louis moaned, rolling his hips up to meet Harry’s and squeezing around him. “Hurry up, gonna come. Wanna come on your knot.”

Harry snapped his hips forward a few more times with full force, growling when he came and his knot locked into place inside of Louis. For a moment, his vision went white, and then he felt Louis spasm beneath him as he came too. He collapsed onto Louis and rotated their bodies so that Louis was lying on top of him, Harry’s knot tying them together. Their heavy breathing filled the room as they came down from their highs.

Louis traced a pattern onto Harry’s collarbone and started to sing softly. “We grinding with passion, cause it’s your birthday.” He replaced his fingers with his mouth and continued to sing, muffled into Harry’s shoulder. “Been at it for hours...”

Harry had always been under the impression that it was the person with the birthday who got to be demanding during birthday sex, but maybe he’d gotten the wrong memo. He wouldn’t have it any other way anyway.

“I love you,” he murmured as Louis sucked a mark into his skin.

“Mmm,” Louis hummed, pulling back to examine his work. “Love you too, old man.”

He propped himself up on his elbows on Harry’s chest and grinned. Harry lifted his eyebrows.

“You’re older than me.”

Louis shrugged. “But you’ve got the bad back.”

Harry snorted. “Would an old man have been able to fuck you like I just did?”

“Touche,” Louis giggled and puckered his lips for a kiss.

Harry obliged, and then Louis dropped his head back onto Harry’s shoulder and dozed off as his knot went down. Harry ran his hands up and down his back, the sweaty skin soft and damp under his fingers. He pulled Louis off of him after a little while and tucked him into bed next to him, making sure Louis’ alarm was set for the next morning before slipping out to shower.

 

Harry woke up the next morning wrapped in the scent of cinnamon and cloves. He’d woken up to the same scent almost every morning for the past year, but he still didn’t think he’d ever get used to it. He’d dreamt of Louis’ scent for so long before he got to actually live in it, and sometimes everything still felt like a dream. Louis had left for work a few hours ago, but his scent was so embedded into nearly everything Harry owned by now, that Harry momentarily expected Louis’ sleeping form to still be in bed next to him. It was Harry’s birthday. He deserved to have his mate in bed with him.

Harry grabbed his phone from it’s charging dock on the bedside table to check the time and any missed messages. He had a birthday message from his mom, as well as one from Louis.

_Good morning and Happy Birthday! See you this afternoon :) Love you xoxoxo_

It was almost 10:00. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d slept in so late. Louis had convinced Harry to take a day off at bakery for his birthday this year, but he still planned to work a couple of hours to check on things. He yawned and stretched before begrudgingly leaving the warmth of his bed and trudging to the shower. He took his time getting ready, but left the apartment quickly, running through the cold to his car and shivering on the short drive to the bakery. He sent Louis a text back as soon as he was safe in the warmth of the bakery kitchen, where Kendall had the radio on, the oven preheating, and the mixer running while she cracked eggs into a bowl

“Good morning!” Harry greeted her as he pocketed his phone, not expecting a text back from Louis until lunch time.

Kendall fixed him with a look. “Aren’t you supposed to have the day off?”

“You know I can’t stay away,” Harry joked, which earned him an eyeroll and a snort. “Is Cara up front?”

He hung his jacket up on the coat tree next to the back door and pulled on his apron.

“Yeah,” Kendall nodded. “Don’t know how long she’ll last though. Mrs. Graham came in as soon as we opened and pissed her off.”

Mrs. Graham was one of their regulars. She was an elderly woman who came into the bakery at least twice a week with her miniature schnauzer to buy thumbprint cookies, for reasons unbeknownst to Harry. Also for reasons unbeknownst to Harry, she was convinced that he was the only person in the bakery who made the cookies the right way, despite the fact that everyone used the same recipe. If he wasn’t in the shop when she came by, she refused to buy anything and was often rude about it.

“And that new beta guy Louis hired came in just a little while ago and asked her out again too.” Kendall continued. “Oh, and happy birthday by the way.”

Harry was going to have to talk to Louis about the new guy. He knew Cara would only be nice about turning the guy down for so long, and he didn’t want her to have to put up with unwanted attention anyway.

“Thanks. I’ll see if she wants to take the back until I leave later,” Harry told Kendall, who nodded wordlessly as he headed up front.

Working in the back was usually preferable to working up front, where you had to deal with customers, who were nice for the most part, but sometimes grumpy and rude. However, sometimes Harry found working up front to be a welcome break from the monotony of baking in the back, so he usually gave his employees the choice.

“Hey, birthday boy!” Cara greeted him when he joined her at the counter, where a vase of red roses sat next to the cash register. “These just came for you.”

Harry couldn’t fight the smile that etched it’s way onto his face as he picked up the vase and turned the roses around, looking for a card. He found it and opened the envelope to see one line, written in handwriting that was not Louis’, but still made Harry smile.

_I thought I told you to take the day off._

_-L_

“He knows you too well,” said Cara, reading the card over Harry’s shoulder.

“I’m only here for a couple of hours,” Harry said, ignoring her comment and tucking the card back into it’s envelope. “So if you want a break from the front, now’s your chance.”

“You’re an angel,” Cara said, and then rushed to the back as a car pulled up out front and more customers started walking towards the door.

They were fairly busy for a weekday, so the morning went by quickly, and it was time to meet Louis back at home before Harry knew it. Harry checked his phone for the first time since that morning when he got to his car. He had a missed call from Gemma and one text from Louis saying that he’d be home after three.

  
Sometimes Harry still couldn’t believe his luck. He couldn’t believe that he got to spend his birthdays, his ruts, his weekends and nights, with Louis Tomlinson. He couldn’t believe Louis wore his mark on his neck and engagement ring on his finger. For a while, Harry didn’t think they’d ever get to this place. After they decided to bury the hatchet and give each other a chance, they got along as easy as breathing, and Harry often mourned the time he spent too proud to put himself out there and Louis spent hating him.

\-----

_In the weeks following that first rut they spent together, Harry and Louis more or less tiptoed around each other. They stopped avoiding each other, were often caught making eyes at each other from across rooms, and they stopped by each other’s places of work way more often than necessary, but they only saw each other when other people were present. Harry wasn’t sure why or how they’d reached some kind of unspoken agreement to not be alone with each other, and he decided to put a stop to it after two and a half weeks of feeling like he’d crawl out of his skin if he didn’t get his hands back on Louis immediately._

_He pestered Niall for information on how to best woo Louis, which resulted in randomly showing up on his doorstep with a six pack of beer and Chinese take out on a Wednesday evening. Louis opened the door in slacks and a sweater, still dressed from a day of teaching, and smirked when Harry ducked his head bashfully._

_“Took you long enough, Styles,” he said, then turned around and left the door open for Harry to follow. Harry wasn’t sure what it meant, that Louis didn’t seem the least bit surprised to see him. He stepped inside._

_The first time Harry entered Louis’ apartment, he’d nearly been knocked off of his feet with how good the place smelled, how concentrated Louis’ scent was in the space of his apartment. Then he’d scent marked everything, and he almost hadn’t been able to leave, it smelled so fucking good. Harry’s scent wasn’t as present as it had been a couple of weeks ago, but it still lingered. He resisted the urge to run his hands over every crevice with purpose in order to intertwine their scents properly again._

_“I was just about to go change clothes,” Louis continued, and gestured to the kitchen. “Make yourself at home. I’ll be right back.”_

_Harry nearly did something stupid, like ask if Louis needed any help, as he admired his retreating form, the sway of his hips, the bounce in his step._

_He remembered himself when Louis’ bedroom door clicked shut, and turned to the kitchen to unload the food. He was pulling plates down from one of the cabinets when Louis returned in jeans and a hoodie. He smiled at Harry and took a plate from him._

_“You don’t seem surprised to see me,” Harry commented as they scooped food onto their plates._

_Louis shrugged. “Well, either I’m psychic or Niall called right before you showed up.”_

_“Ah,” Harry nodded seriously. “Probably the former.”_

_“Definitely,” Louis agreed, and Harry laughed. He was glad everything still felt as easy as they’d left it. He’d been anxious about awkwardness and also a bit worried that maybe Louis would decide to hate him again._

_“I tend to eat on the couch,” Louis said once his plate was loaded up. “We keep it classy here.”_

_“Works for me,” Harry said agreeably, following him to said couch. There was an array of paperwork spread out on the coffee table that Harry didn’t want to disrupt, so he sat with his plate in his lap._

_“Sorry,” Louis said, placing his plate on the edge of the table. “I’ve been lesson planning. Let me clear this.”_

_“How’s the new semester treating you?” Harry asked as Louis shuffled the papers into two different stacks and set them to the side._

_“Pretty much the same as last,” Louis said. “I’ve got the kids who are passionate and the kids who are just taking my classes to fulfill their fine arts credit and couldn’t give two shits. We’re about to start work on the spring musical, so I’m enjoying my last few weeks of peace.”_

_Harry had been to the high school’s production of The Sound of Music two years ago, before Louis took over the department. It had been pretty horrendous, so Harry hoped Louis knew what he was doing. He couldn’t imagine the production being any worse than The Sound of Music, so Louis already had that going for him._

_“What musical are you doing?” He asked, food sitting momentarily forgotten in his lap._

_Louis smiled, more to himself than to Harry, a quick twitch of lips. He was so goddamn cute Harry thought he might die. “Grease.”_

_“Oh,” Harry smiled. “I love that one!”_

_Louis nodded. “Me too. I played Danny in my high school’s production. Just went to the open audition on a whim, and the whole experience kind of changed my life.”_

_The fact that he wanted to have the same kind of impact on his students’ lives went unspoken, but was clear from the introspective look on his face. Liam had the same spark for teaching. Harry would always admire that. He loved his job, loved putting smiles on people’s faces and working with his hands, but he wasn’t really making a huge difference like Louis and Liam were._

_“Anyway,” Louis continued, sitting back on the couch and flipping on the TV. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t turn out to be a huge train wreck.”_

_“I’m sure it’ll be great,” Harry assured him, turning his own attention to the TV and putting his plate on the coffee table._

_“Are we Netflix and chilling?” he asked as he took a bite of food, which earned him an eyeroll._

_“You’re still so lame,” Louis said, but his tone was teasing, so Harry didn’t take offense. “Now, what kind of TV and films are you into? Answer wisely or this will have to end now.”_

_They continued their back and forth while they ate. As first date conversations went, it was pretty standard. They already knew the more meaningful things about each other- the details of their families, who their friends were and what each of them did for a living, but Harry wanted to know everything, and now that they liked each other, their banter was more fun and flirtatious and less hurtful._

_They decided on starting the new Netflix original show that everyone was raving about, and forced themselves to stop after three episodes. Louis flipped off the TV when the warning that the next episode would start in fifteen seconds popped up on the screen. Harry wasn’t ready for the night to end. He hadn’t even been able to touch Louis yet._

_“You know,” He said, shifting and resting his arm on the back of the couch. “I don’t think we’ve technically Netflix and chilled until we at least make out a little bit.”_

_“Stop making Netflix and chill a verb,” Louis said, looking exasperated, but he sat up and scooted over closer to Harry, and then he swung a leg over his lap and straddled him._

_Harry’s breath left him in a woosh. He clutched at Louis’ biceps as Louis leaned in, tilted his head, and kissed him. He made a soft sound in his throat that Harry would replay in his head every time he jerked off for the next week. Kissing Louis was better than he’d always imagined it would be, and he’d imagined a lot. Somehow this kiss was even better than their first, or their second. How was he supposed to live the rest of his life knowing kisses with Louis would only get better and better?_

_He ran his hands down from Louis’ arms to his ass and Louis rocked his hips slowly, the scent of their mixed arousal leaking into the air._

_“Should we go slow?” Harry asked against Louis’ lips. He wanted to do this right. “Tell me if you want to go slow.”_

_“We’ve already fucked.” Louis said through a breathy laugh, kissing his way to Harry’s jaw. “Multiple times. Screw going slow.”_

_Thank God. Harry nodded. “You’re right.”_

_“Usually am,” Louis joined their lips together again and Harry smiled against his mouth._

_Louis gripped Harry’s hips and Harry’s hands snaked their way under his hoodie to tease the skin of his tummy. His skin was so soft and warm. Harry ground into him and Louis’ hand traveled to the button of his jeans, reaching his hand inside and gripping Harry’s cock with practiced ease. Harry groaned against his lips._

_Louis pulled his hand out and Harry made a sound of protest, but then Louis slid off of his lap and down to kneel between Harry’s legs._

_“I thought about this the day we met,” Louis said, making it sound like he was admitting a dirty secret. “Until you opened your mouth and ticked me off.” He licked a path down the underside of Harry’s cock. “And then I still thought about it, but I was mad about it.”_

_Harry’s laugh was cut off when Louis licked back up and swallowed him down. He put a hand to each of Harry’s thighs and hollowed his cheeks as he pulled back off, then sank back down. He wrapped a hand around the base and stroked in time with the movement of his mouth. Louis wasn’t the only one who’d thought about this, and Harry still couldn’t quite believe this was happening. He struggled not to thrust up into Louis’ mouth, trying to be on his best behavior so Louis would want to do this again._

_He groaned when Louis reached down to roll Harry’s balls in his hand and Harry was so close. Louis looked up at Harry from under his eyelashes, coy but confident, and that did it. Harry came, back arching off the couch and hips bucking up into Louis’ mouth. Louis continued to suck through his orgasm, swallowing everything down and taking everything Harry gave him._

_Louis pulled off when Harry’s cock softened and rested his chin on Harry’s knee._

_“Forgot how much I love giving head,” he said, voice soft and scratchy._

_Harry closed his eyes briefly. “Well, you’re really fucking good at it.”_

_Louis got up and straddled Harry’s lap again, smiling at him when Harry opened his eyes again. “Didn’t know you were such a sweet talker, Styles.”_

_Harry’s cheeks heated under Louis’ gaze, unsure if Louis was making fun of him or not, and deciding that as long as Louis kept looking at him like that, he didn’t care. He reached down to unbutton Louis’ jeans and wrapped a hand around him as Louis leaned in for a kiss. Harry could taste himself on Louis’ tongue and he moaned when Louis began to thrust up into his fist._

_He tightened his grip and Louis’ made a whimpering sound against his mouth that nearly had Harry hard again. Louis pulled away when he started to get close, tossing his head back and biting his lip as he chased his orgasm. He was so fucking beautiful, his chest flushed and his lips bitten raw. Harry was too old to still feel so entranced and overwhelmed with an omega in his arms, but Louis seemed to have a special effect on him._

_“Gorgeous,” Harry murmured and Louis back looked down at him. Harry wanted to give him everything, wanted to make him feel everything._

_“Sweet talker,” he said again, and then he was coming with a soft cry, hot and thick over Harry’s hand. His thighs clenched around Harry’s and he ducked his head to rest on Harry’s shoulder as he caught his breath._

_They sat like that for a moment, and then Louis removed himself from Harry’s lap and stood up, completely casual. He hoisted his jeans back over his hips and walked to the kitchen, coming back with a handful of paper towels. Harry couldn’t tear his eyes away from Louis, and he hoped he was coming off like some kind of intense freak, but Louis didn’t seem to notice._

_“Now you can tell everyone you successfully Netflix and chilled,” he said, tossing the paper towels at Harry._

_Harry wiped off his hand and shook his head. “Liam and Niall are going to be relentless.”_

_Louis nodded and plopped back down on the couch next to him. “I suppose we deserve it.”_

_Harry shrugged in response and buttoned his pants once he cleaned himself up while Louis leaned against the back of the couch and watched him._

_“You aren’t allowed to watch more of the show without me,” He said, pointing his finger at Harry sternly. Harry imagined he talked to rowdy students in the same tone of voice, but he wasn’t bothered. This meant Louis wanted to do this again._

_“Friday night?” Harry asked simply and Louis nodded._

_“It’s a date.”_

\-----

Valentine’s Day fell on a Saturday, and the town square was busy.

Kendall was out of town with her mate, and Cara was taking the closing shift, so Louis was helping out the new kid, Jonah, at the register while Harry baked. Jonah was one of Louis’ students, so he was mortified to be working with him, but they seemed to be getting along. Louis kept popping next door to check on Ashton and his own employees, but he did great with Harry’s customers and Jonah when he could.

Harry was frosting cupcakes and humming to himself when Louis popped his head in the back mid afternoon.

“One of the prettiest guys I’ve ever seen just walked into the shop and we should invite him to have a threesome with us.”

A low growl emitted from Harry’s chest without his permission. Louis was the only person who’d ever been able to make him jealous, even though he knew his jealousy and possessiveness were unfounded, and he was often embarrassed at himself. He still couldn’t seem to help himself though. According to Niall, even when Harry thought he was keeping it cool, he still sometimes stared at Louis with so much intensity that Niall and Liam had coined his ‘Louis face’.  

Louis simply rolled his eyes, completely unfazed by Harry’s caveman-like reaction. “Calm down, Harold.”

Harry never claimed not to be embarrassingly territorial. Still, he was interested to see the guy who prompted Louis to propose a threesome for the first time ever, so he followed him out to the front of the store, and well. Louis had a point.  

One of the prettiest omegas Harry had ever seen was standing in front of the pastry case, scanning the selection as he rubbed at his bottom lip with his fingers. He had a head full of thick black hair and crazy bone structure that only seemed to be made more prominent by the dusting of scruff on his face. Even Jonah kept covertly looking at him as he swept the floor, and Harry knew he had a girlfriend he was very serious about.

The omega looked somewhat familiar, and Harry wondered if he was famous. He was attractive enough to be, and he smelled really nice. Similar to Louis: spicy and gingery, but deeper and maybe just a bit sweeter.

“Can I help you with anything?” Harry asked and the omega looked up at him.  

“Oh, not yet,” he replied, his voice deep and pleasant. “My boyfriend’s parking the car and I know he’ll want a say.”

And with that he returned his attention to the pastries. He was all too cool--dismissive without being impolite--and Harry had to wonder how experienced he was with shutting down Alpha advances. Not that Harry had been advancing, but he was sure this guy got a lot of unwanted attention.

Louis leaned over to whisper into Harry’s ear. “His boyfriend is probably gorgeous too. We should have a foursome.”

“Stop that,” Harry whispered back, reaching down to pinch Louis’ ass.

Louis side stepped him and batted his hand away. He leaned against the back counter and took a sip of his tea as the front door opened and the bell over head tinkled. Harry glanced over to see Liam walking in, wearing a new leather jacket that he must have gotten for Christmas.

“Hey Payno,” Louis said cheerfully, and Harry nodded at him in greeting.

“Hey,” he smiled and lifted a hand in a half-hearted wave. He turned briefly to Jonah. “Hi Jonah.”

“Hey, Mr. Payne,” Jonah greeted, before ducking into the back, murmuring something about needing the restroom. Harry expected that having your boss and two of your teachers all together in the same room could be kind of intimidating.

“Poor kid is probably traumatized,” Louis said with a laugh. “Liam’s been talking about safe sex all week.”

Harry expected Liam to approach the counter to continue their chat, but instead he walked over to the omega who was now squinting up at the chalkboard menu above Harry and Louis’ heads. The omega turned to him briefly and smiled when Liam came up from behind and put a hand to the small of his back.

Louis turned to Harry and mouthed, _What the fuck?_ with a stunned and confused expression on his face. Harry agreed with that sentiment, until he suddenly remembered why the omega looked familiar. It was the same guy Liam had shown him a picture of a couple of years ago when Harry asked what the mysterious Zayn looked like. He realized that he smelled sweet in the same way that Liam smelled sweet. Like citrus.

“Guys, this is Zayn,” Liam said, and Harry felt Louis stiffen slightly beside him. “Zayn, this is Harry and Louis.”

He pointed to them respectively and Zayn nodded at them.

“I thought so when I walked in, but I wasn’t sure so I didn’t say anything,” he said, leaning over with his hand outstretched. “Nice to finally meet you guys. I’ve heard so many stories.”

Louis cleared his throat and Harry could actually feel him trying to compose himself. “Yeah, man. You too.”

Harry was absolutely never going to stop reminding him that he suggested they have a foursome with _Liam_.

“Just taking Zayn around town,” Liam said, clearly oblivious to Harry and Louis’ shock. “I’m trying to convince him that moving here is a good idea.”

“You should try one of Harry’s pies,” Louis said. “That would convince anyone. Especially the apple cinnamon.”

Harry tried not to preen too much at the simple praise, but he couldn’t help it. He loved it when Louis complimented him. He knew that each compliment received was a compliment earned.

“Liam will probably end up being enough incentive,” Zayn replied, and ducked his head to hide a smile when Liam took hold of his hand. “But I would never say no to pie.”

“Last time I ate some of Harry’s apple pie the crust was burnt,” Liam said helpfully.

Harry gave him the stink eye. “Thank you for that constructive comment, Liam. If you recall, I told you it was burnt when I gave it to you. That’s _why_ I gave it to you instead of selling it.”

“You should have given it to Niall,” Louis said to Harry. “He would have still appreciated it even though it was burnt.”

“Niall doesn’t even know how to season chicken properly,” Liam countered.

“Exactly,” Louis said, putting a hand to his hip. “That’s what I’m saying. He still would have appreciated burnt pie.” Then he turned to Harry and touched his arm. “Your burnt pie is still delicious, darling.”

Harry could do without the coddling, but he still appreciated the sentiment. Zayn watched the entire exchange with a strange look of amusement on his face, like he was finally seeing something come to life that he’d heard so much about.

“Anyway,” Liam rolled his eyes. “I know you’re busy, so we just popped in to say hi and for introductions.” He started backing up towards the exit. “See you guys later!”

“Have fun,” Harry waved at Zayn, who smiled back at him. “It was nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Zayn said, and then followed Liam out of the bakery.

“Well,” Louis said as soon as the door swung shut behind them. “Zayn is real.”

Harry nodded. “Looks like it.”

“And he looks like _that_.”

“Yeah. Who would’ve guessed?”

“Not me.”

“Nope.”

Louis’ eyes went wide. “We have to tell Niall.”

He dashed to retrieve his phone from the back counter and Harry looked over his shoulder as he typed out a message.

_911 ZAYN IS REAL!!!!!! SOS_

Harry snorted. “Alright, alright. I’ll tell Jonah it’s safe to come out now. Let’s get back to work.”

“Aye, aye, boss!” Louis saluted him and Harry shook his head at him as he turned around and started messing with the cash register, trying to look busy.

He wished they were spending their first real Valentine’s Day together doing something more romantic than working. They’d still been in that weird phase between messing around and being in a relationship the year before, and Harry had been too afraid of scaring Louis off by suggesting they spend the day together.

Louis kept assuring him that Valentine’s Day was just another day and they didn’t need to do anything special, but Harry still planned on making them a nice dinner and maybe eating Louis out until he cried when they got home.

Cara came to relieve them a little over an hour later, bright eyed and bushy tailed from her day spend with her mate, Annie, and Harry and Louis briefly stopped by the record store one last time before heading home.

“How does pad thai sound for dinner?” Harry asked as he drove to the apartment, thinking about what he had in his pantry back home that would be relatively easy to throw together.

“Sounds amazing,” Louis said softly from the passenger seat, where he’d silently been gazing out the window. “I’m starving.”

Harry reached over and squeezed Louis’ knee briefly. “I’ll be fast.”

He pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex a few minutes later and Louis led the way up the stairs to Harry’s apartment. He headed straight for the bedroom while Harry made for the kitchen, and Harry assumed he was going to change his clothes.

Harry had all of the ingredients laid out on the counter and onions and garlic sizzling in a pan when Louis returned, clad in boxers and one of Harry’s sweaters. He looked soft and cozy and Harry wanted to bury his face in his neck. Louis pressed himself into his side with his cheek pressed to Harry’s shoulder. Harry brought his hand up to cup the back of Louis’ neck and scented him, his thumb stroking over his mating mark.

“You were a big help today,” Harry murmured, stirring the onions around the pan. “Thanks for being the best boyfriend ever.”

“No problem,” Louis chuckled and sank even deeper into him, his scent warm and happy. “Thank you for pretending to be mine first.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Comments and kudos are loved and appreciated :) You can also find me on [tumblr](http://www.littlelouishiccups.tumblr.com) .


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